


The Fires of a Vengeful Goddess

by Sentlett



Series: Vengeful Goddess Mythos [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Caline Bustier Bashing, Classmates Bashing (Miraculous Ladybug), Gen, HEAVY ON SALT, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Karma is the best medicine, Lila Rossi Bashing, Minor Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), Protective Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug), Revenge, Tikki Is So Done (Miraculous Ladybug), Tikki goes kind of crazy, Tired Plagg, Vengeful Goddess Tikki, but she gets better, even if the harm isn't canon, ml salt fic, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26710540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sentlett/pseuds/Sentlett
Summary: What happens when someone kills one of the happy-go-lucky ladybug goddess's favorite people? She takes petty revenge because at least they didn't suffer... But what happens when you DO make them suffer? That's where THE PACT (TM) comes in. and when THE PACT (TM) is invoked, that's when you don't need to question where your goddess is. She's right there, and she's fresh out of mercy.Note: No Marinette doesn't die, I'm not heartless. Although she is in pain, that's what the hurt tag is for...Heavy Salt on practically everyone. Except Jules and Rose, because for some reason they left the room.Tags subject to change/addition as I have no clue where Tikki is going to take me on this ride.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Classmates, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tikki, Plagg/Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)
Series: Vengeful Goddess Mythos [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019830
Comments: 241
Kudos: 563





	1. I was burned down into cinder/ Ruinous cinder of grief

**Author's Note:**

> So this was supposed to be a one-shot about Tikki getting petty revenge on the class for Marinette. Then it looked at me with Oliver's eyes and asked for more please and I couldn't resist it. So it isn't stuck in my Oneshot collection - Yippy. This story is going to fluctuate wildly between trying to be funny and pitch black, so be ready for whiplash.  
> That warning said, please enjoy the first chapter.
> 
> Hi. This is me in the midst of writing chapter 7: I changed my Username which has messed up some of my old comments. If you see a Comment from PheonixShadowZ, that is me, just as Sentlett is also me. Just figured I'd mention it since I put a lot of lore and explanations in the comments under that name. Not that I need to tell anyone, but, I changed my username cause I came up with my old one during my more angsty teenaged years and wanted to put that behind me. My first fanfic is under a new Psued of the my old username mainly so that it is somewhat separated from my newer works. This is also on my profile page.

Tikki liked to think of herself as a Zen little bug goddess. She, in fact, prided herself on spitting at the stereotypical ‘Vengeful Goddess’ archetype. She didn’t snap when Hippolyta’s amazons turned on her. She only turned a blind eye to the fact that Plagg’s little side project to cause worldwide conflict should have ended for a few years as revenge for Joan’s death, twenty was enough for her to level her head again. The last time the physical manifestation of Creation snapped, frankly, was Atlantis. No, that was, in fact, NOT Plagg’s fault. Just like the concept of disease wasn’t Tikki’s. See the two universal constants have an agreement of sorts, a pact if you will. If one of them accidentally snaps or messes up and slips into the other’s domain, whoever was completely sane at the time took the blame for whatever destruction was wrought and kept balance while they cooled down. This deal began after the two had gotten drunk when Tikki (in all her ill-begotten wisdom) created the concept of inebriation and accidentally created Humans with Plagg’s help while testing said concept. Seeing their mistake (because honestly, which of them had the idea of making them more intelligent monkeys? Even if the things were sort of cute), they decided that being prepared for future mishaps would be a good idea. Hence, THE PACT™ was instated to always have someone keeping a cool head, and the universal balance in check should something go wrong.

Since THE PACT™ was instated about six millennia ago, it has been invoked a total of six times, discounting humans, each Kwami taking the blame for three of them. The first time they invoked THE PACT™ was actually Tikki’s fault, she had taken a liking to this one human who knew an excellent sweet-mush recipe, and a T-Rex had eaten the poor girl. In response, Tikki had rained fire and brimstone on the stupid lizards, after Plagg made sure that a coincidental earthquake protected a safe breeding population of Humans from the Goddess’s incoherent wrath. Once Tikki had calmed down a bit, she was so embarrassed she made it rain for a month in penance for evaporating most of the sea. Invocations two and three were Plagg’s and Tikki’s, respectively, but they both agreed to never talk about them. Needless to say that people got sick much more frequently and now had to deal with overpowering lust on occasion.

Four was the famous black plague caused when the two of them had jointly decided that they hated the Huns. Tikki chose to take the role of Balance Holder for it since Plagg had been all too ready to create something with the power to punish the bastards. She did get a bit of a chuckle at Plaggs annoyance when they used their punishment to develop biological warfare, though. After the two and all their fellow concepts made gods had been trapped in Jewelry, JEWELRY OF ALL THINGS, Tikki had created a few, hundred, thousand, Tsunamis for the Atlanteans. They were the ones who insisted that they needed more water (she would never understand those island weirdos). Honestly, Plagg didn’t blame Tikki for taking that one. He was pretty close to destroying their civilization in revenge for the Kwamis’ containment too. Cancer had been created because Plagg decided to poke around in their old work while annoyed at humans for mistreating his current chosen and had poked one of the Chromosomes the wrong way. Tikki had been saddened to take the fall for that one, but she did, and it eased the guilt she had for not checking up on the cat and his chosen. But since the Scorecard was even, both of them had agreed that would be the last time THE PACT™ would ever be needed. Except now, Tikki decided it would be.


	2. From which a fire of/ Burning vengeance was lit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki meets with Plagg about a pressing matter.  
> And all of those whose earth is about to be salted get a shiver up their spines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:  
> There is going to be some slightly graphic detail given about:  
> \- A magical Healing process  
> \- Multiple Magical Punishments, one of which involves potential dismemberment (of a single finger)
> 
> There will be allusions to:  
> \- The salt typical Adrien Behaviors (i.e sexual harassment, he is only dipping his toes in the water here though)  
> \- Extreme Salt Typical Class Behavior (i.e harming Marinette)
> 
> You have been warned. Don't bitch about it in the comments if you decide to read it.

Tikki liked to think that she was a Zen little bug goddess, but if there was one thing that made her ignore her insectoid yoga, it was when those she labeled HERS were harmed. While she could be petty, just ask the French about that 20-year extension to the 80 years war (you’re welcome, Joan), that was for minor problems. At least with Joan, death was somewhat quick, and after that, she was wherever souls went after death. Torture, however, was something that Tikki couldn’t abide by, especially the torture of those she cared about by those that they cared about. And even more so when she was FORCED to put those she loved through torture to help them heal. The psychological and physical torture that Marinette was and would be going through while she recovered from her classmates’ ‘loving’ actions were what found Tikki on the brink of going full-raging-vengeful goddess stereotype. Holding in the rage, she flew until she was just outside the window of one Adrien Agreste’s house, waiting for her Destructive counterpart to show up and try in vain to talk her down.

Plagg, seeing the steam coming from the Red Kwami and the fire and destruction curled up in her snarling visage, flinched. He slowly slipped away from his current holder, who he now wished had been that nice blue-haired girl Fu had offered first, if only so that he didn’t have to be the voice of reason to this ball of anger and hatred. “It’s going to be seven, Plagg, unless you can give me a good reason NOT to make those children’s lives worse than the living hell that Marinette will be living in for the next YEAR while her hands recover, it’s. Going. To. Be. s-e-v-e-n.” Tikki snarled, her black spots turning sunspot white as she saw Plagg’s chosen sleeping soundly through the window, her echoing voice pulling and contorting the word in inhuman ways.

“They are just kids.” Plagg started, “and They are being misled?” Plagg tried, his uncertainty showing.

“That’s a load of YOESCNET, and you know it!” Tikki screeched, slipping into the primordial tongue in her rage, “They were a group of little freeloaders before that snake appeared, she only made them show their true colors. The only reason that I supported Marinette’s friendship with them is that they brought her out of her shell and gave her confidence. If I could have chosen, she would have been out of that class faster than the dinosaurs went extinct. I don’t hear a reason against brimstone PLAGG.” Tikki snarked her sneer out of place for anyone who hadn’t known her since the beginning of time. “And let’s not forget that that blond doormat over there was practically told what they going to do and didn’t warn her, much less stop them.” Tikki continued, now on a roll. “You have to have been slacking for your chosen to stand aside as one of the nicest people he knows was threatened with _mutilation_ and not do ANYTHING TO STOP IT!”

“It’s not that bad, right, Sugarcube? She would be fine in a year like you said, and with your help, it will be even faster right? You could probably have her better in a few months if Hawkmoth doesn’t do anything. Plus, if you’re fused, she’ll still be able to do hero work…” Plagg trailed off, seeing Tikki’s red gain more orange, “Please tell me that you were giving the normal human recovery time.” Plagg pleaded, hoping that these kids hadn’t brought on another episode of creative doom. He may muck up a few things when he was in a snit, but Tikki was CREATION, and just as the name implies, she got _creative_ with her revenge.

“If-I-wasn’t-here-she-WOULDN’T-recover.” Tikki echoed her eyes now the blue flames of hell. “Her career and passion would have been destroyed. That’s not counting for the TORTURE that she will be going through as my magic puts together the pieces, pulls shards smaller than dust back into place, and mends them. That’s not counting the chronic weakness she will have outside the suit even after she’s healed, or how fragile those mends will be for multiple years to come. THAT’S NOT EVEN ACCOUNTING FOR THE FACT THAT SHE WON’T BE ABLE TO PICK UP A PENCIL FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR, MUCH LESS SEW OR DESIGN ANYWHERE BUT IN HER HEAD!” and with that, any vestige of Plagg hoping to stop her rage died. He had almost been Marinette’s Kwami. In fact, originally, Fu had wanted to give her Plagg since she was so self-sacrificing. He had been her Kwamii once due to fate, and he had been pretty jealous of Tikki for having such a good chosen, compared to his. Not that Plagg didn’t like Adrien, but, well, the kid didn’t listen to him. Sure, Plagg could get hung up on his cheese, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t a being that had been around for only slightly less time than the entire universe. And honestly, the kid didn’t live in the real world, thinking that his mighty ‘high road’ would solve the problem. The fact that that obliviousness and high-handedness had led to Ladybug, and by extension, the new GUARDIAN’s infirmity killed any empathy he had for the kid stone dead. He might be the kid’s Kwami, but Marinette was the Guardian. He would be dealing with her for a LOT longer than Adrien.

“Well, I’m out of ideas.” Plagg deadpanned, watching as Tikki tried to hold back going full hellfire in front of him. If he didn’t need to play damage control here, he would have snapped too honestly, but Plagg sadly did need to be the Balance Holder, so he didn’t. “What are you going to do to them?” Plagg asked, mentally preparing himself for what he may have to do to protect those Tikki would feel ashamed to hurt after she cooled down.

“For her average classmates, I’m going to make them a reflection of what they wanted Marinette to be.” Tikki replied, “Every wish they had that she fulfilled, they will find themselves fulfilling for others. Everything they wished she was, they will be forced to be. Every insecurity they forced upon her will be magnified and given to them in return. And every action they committed against her, they will have, symbolically, committed against them. When I’m done, they will all be such shivering codependent _wrecks_ that they won’t be able to find where one of them starts, and the next begins.” Tikki was smiling a dangerous smile, almost sharklike in its menace. Plagg sighed in relief. He knew that nearly none of Marinette’s classmates had really stuck up for her. He’d probably have to protect Rose and Juleka, if only because they hadn’t done anything negative or positive during the time that Lila had been in play. If he remembers correctly, the two had snuck away from the group before this revenge’s inciting incident to succumb to mistake #3.

“For her Bullies, Lila first. Every malady she attests to having will be given to her, cripplingly. Every connection she claims will be true in the most horrible way possible. Despite gaining every skill, she claims to have, no one will ever find interest in them. And every time she willingly tells the truth. No one will believe her.” Plagg smirks; that was the type of petty that HE was known for. All thanks to Tikki, honestly, she was the brains of this operation.

“Chloe, well, let’s just say she will NEVER have influence again. The silver spoon she grew up with, it will have rusted in her mouth. And never again will she be able to reach such influence again. She will have to get very comfortable living as the dregs of society that she saw everyone else as.” Plagg tilted his head. Apparently, she wasn’t all that angry with Chloe; perhaps that was because the blond had been getting better recently, baring that unfortunate Miracle Queen Debacle. This just might be the Clue-by-four the girl needed to live in reality with everyone else.

“For Bustier, I have something special. She’s going to disappear for a couple years on vacation to teenage-hood. I figure that reliving Marinette’s experiences herself with the good parts removed should be enough. Maybe also have a few documents questioning her teaching practices appear on the right desks in the interim for good measure.” Plagg almost thought that the teacher was getting off easy until he remembered the gaslighting, the perpetual victim-blaming, the extra work piled on Marinette, and thought that maybe losing her job and teaching license on top was a bit much.

“The insipid owl I’m just going to get rid of, he didn’t do anything in his position. So, he won’t have a position. His only sins were ignorance and stupidity.” Plagg nodded, agreeing.

“And for YOUR CHOSEN,” Plagg flinched, knowing this was going to be bad, carrying a miraculous gave one a prime directive of doing good and protecting other miraculous holders, breaking that directive entailed rather, HARSH, penalties. “Firstly, if he feels his inaction is well earned, perhaps he will be fine when others do not care nor act if he is similarly harmed.” Plagg nodded, a Cassandra curse then, that was understandable.

“Secondly, he will find himself unable to act upon that twisted little crush he feels for MY bug. No more flirting, no more forcing his feelings on her, no more tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants. The longer and more he fails this, the tighter your ring will get until it finally severs the finger it is on. It is YOUR prerogative when you warn him of this and how you explain it.” Plagg shivered. He knew that that crush was unhealthy; it had grown a bit too wild. He had figured it acceptable at the time since it made the kid more protective of Ladybug, but now it was biting him in the tail. Plagg had forgotten how morbid Tikki could get.

“And finally, since his secrets have been the cause of this misery, he will have none that harm others. Should he do anything that harms, physically or emotionally, an innocent, he will be unable to keep it hidden. If he learns something that will harm another, physically or emotionally, he will share it as quickly as possible. It may make him loved, but should his actions as Chat leak into his civilian life, well, who would be to blame but himself?” Tikki smirked. Plagg palled, Tikki had just stated she planned to put a timer on his time with Adrien, since the moment he did anything as Chat that harmed someone in his civilian life, he would be FORCED to spill it. It was time to negotiate.

“Sugarcube, I think that last one needs conditions. What if it leaks his identity?” Plagg pointed out, hoping that Tikki had just overlooked that. She didn’t.

“Then, keeping his identity secret would be hurting someone else, wouldn’t it?” Tikki replied coldly.

“These punishments will begin being meted out over the next week, in the order I have stated. Only once each punishment which I have stated has been set self-sustaining on its path will I be satisfied and this invocation of THE PACT complete. Should you wish revenge for a similar injustice in the future, I shall take the blame just as you shall for all that befalls these sinners. As we agreed at the beginning of civilization…”

“Shall we follow till the end of time.” Plagg finished, sealing the magic they attached to The Pact ™. He felt the cold shackles of responsibility latch onto him, almost stalling his flight for a second. Until Tikki’s vengeance was fulfilled and she cooled down, he was in charge of the universal balance. He would be unable to fuse with his miraculous, and his holder could no longer force him to do anything. Tikki would be unable to rest until her lust for vengeance burned out, unable to fuse with her miraculous (which wouldn’t have helped matters anyway), and her holder would similarly be unable to control her. Of course, the price of this was that, as Avenger, her punishments would last until death, and she was unable to stray from what she decided before the agreement was struck. It was up to Plagg, as the balance holder, to protect those she didn’t wish to harm, while she enacted her blind vengeance.

Plagg hoped that she had made the right decision. As icy blue chain markings wrapped around him from his nubs to his belly, he watched Tikki’s already fiery seeming body truly ignite. The orange-red her skin gained during her rage began flickering like a flame, and her already bright spots became more luminescent. Tikki flared once, then settled a bit, seeming almost herself except for the new color scheme. Similarly, most of the markings Plagg had gained disappeared, leaving only a spiral of chain where his belly button would be.

“Get some rest Tikki, you have a busy day tomorrow,” Plagg remarked tiredly, already thinking of the wards he would have to put over the few that he was required by balance to protect from Tikki’s wrath.

“Have a productive night Plagg, I start on the sinners tomorrow as the sun reaches its zeroth azimuth,” Tikki replied airily as she turned and flew into the night, almost merging with the stary night.

Plagg flew back into the room through the wall.

He grabbed the wheel of cheese that he was going to savor before Tikki appeared. He’d need his strength for the night ahead.

“Here’s to lucky number seven, and to the hope of no number eight.” He lacklusterly toasted, swallowing the round whole before bolting out of the window towards the first of those he would need to lay wards over this night.


	3. The sourness, the betrayal, the hurt,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wrath of a Goddess was ignited, but where did the embers come from?
> 
> Plagg remembers where, and he regrets not noticing them earlier...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:  
> Contains:  
> A mildly graphic description of injuries (I kept down on the descriptions but it is there)  
> Mild Profanity (B#tch)
> 
> Yeah, I was kind of mean to Marinette here, but it needed to be pretty big to piss off Tikki. You know that thing I said about getting dark, well, I hope you brought a flashlight
> 
> Anyway, you have been warned, don't bitch about it if you decide to read it.

As Plagg zipped through the night air on the way to the Couffaine’s houseboat, he thought back to how this had started yesterday. He had been in Adrien’s pocket after classes that day. He had overheard a conversation between Adrien’s Classmates as his chosen did homework or something while listening to a mix that hat boy had given him. He peeked out of the pocket a bit in time to see that pixie girl drag her looming friend out of the classroom, giggling.

“What is the matter with Marinette?” A girl with rainbow hair asked the Ladyblogger.

“I wanted to meet to discuss how to get rid of my girl’s Jealousy over Lila. It’s been going on for months, and she hasn’t let up. I’m starting to wonder if it’s something else.” Said Ladyblogger replied, fiddling with her phone.

“Well, we tried ignoring her to make her feel guilty. We tried making her feel how Lila feels by pointing out her flaws in turn. Heck, you even tried by giving up your deputy position to try and get her mind off,” the skater girl looked towards Plagg’s chosen, “you-know-who.”

“Voldemort?” asked that tall Jock that Plagg thought had a crush on Chloe. “No, you idiot,” Skater replied, indicating Adrien with a head jerk.

“Getting back on topic,” Ladyblogger said, pulling focus back, “that’s why I wanted to meet, maybe we’ll think up something we missed if we work together.” After she finished that thought, the class door banged open loudly as a hunched figure limped in. The class turned and rushed to the girl.

“What happened? Why are you limping?” The Ladyblogger … Alya, that was her name, Alya replied.

“I – I don’t think I should say. I don’t want to make you hate her or anything.” Lila spoke, looking for all the world a sad broken woobie.

“Come on, Girl, you can tell us. We just want to make you feel better.” Alya replied, gently pulling Lila to sit in the teacher’s chair.

“Iff, you’re all sure…” Lila trailed, leading to the group nodding, “well, I really banged up my leg with that fall down the stairs.”

“What fall?” asked Rainbow Hair.

“Just now,” Lila replied, sniffling, “I was at the top, and Marinette rushed past and shoved me over again. I managed to catch myself upright, but I hit my calf hard on the bottom step.”

“Again? the only other time I’ve heard of you falling down the stairs was when Marinette was temporarily expelled. And you got her off…” Skater trailed off, “why did you get her off if she actually pushed you?”

“I… I didn’t want to say anything, because she’s you guys’ friend, but she … she threatened me. Said that she would make sure I was friendless and alone if I didn’t get her back into school.” Lila ‘whimpered’.

The class bristled, angry faces all around. They couldn’t believe Marinette could be so petty. Calling people names was one thing, but threats and physical violence were quite another. Then a voice, Plagg thought it was from that huge boy dating rainbow hair, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth … wasn’t that was teach was talking about in history?”

“Hammurabi’s code,” hat boy said, “if it worked back then, it could work now.”

“Then let’s do a fall for a fall, and a threat for a threat,” Alya replied. “We tell her to be careful around high places tomorrow, and if she continues, then we go through with those threats. They can’t punish all of us.” Plagg had gotten a shiver down his spine there. Something was up. But he didn’t think at the time that it would lead to anything dangerous. Sugarcube’s chosen had survived worse falls without scratches before. Worst she would get was a sprain, right?

The next day Plagg was on edge. He hadn’t been able to get away from Adrien that night to warn Tikki or her Chosen about what was coming. He poked his head out of Adrien’s bag to watch the room again. He saw Alya walk up to an on-time but stressed looking Marinette and whisper something in her ear. Marinette became equal parts flushed and pale as she scurried up to her current seat in the way back. The class had shifted to the seats they had when Lila returned from Achu. She seemed to get more worried as time went on, repeatedly looking between Lila and Alya and then frowning. When Plagg looked up towards Adrien to see if he would do anything, he saw the kid just looking forward and smiling blankly. Plagg’s chosen wasn’t going to do anything. He was ignoring even the possibility of anything going wrong in his perfect little world. Plagg really wished he could have brought Adrien back to the real world, with all the realistic people, but alas ‘twas not to be.

Around the middle of lunch, Lila was pulled aside again by the class after she left the bathroom looking pale. “Yooou know that thing that you were going to do with the eye and the tooth?” Lila stuttered, “Why don’t we just forget the whole thing…” Alya put her hands onto Lila’s shoulders, “what did she do?”

“I shouldn’t, she didn’t really have nice things to say in there.”

“Please, we can’t help you if you don’t tell us,” Alya replied.

“She. She said to call off the attack dogs,” the class bristled “and that if I didn’t, she would, she would, frame me like she said that I tried to do. Something along the lines of ‘expulsion being the worst of my worries when she was done with me…” Lila teared up, big crocodile tears beading down her face. If Plagg hadn’t been in existence for as long as he had, he might have even believed her. Still, that class was dumb as doorknockers if they thought that literal CIVILIAN LADYBUG would be that manipulative and cruel. The girl probably couldn’t bring herself to put insecticide on her garden, Plagg doubted that she would willingly harm anyone other than an Akuma.

But the class was moved. And in fact, moved with incredible speed the minute they saw the designer enter the classroom they had pulled Lila to for their discussion. They crowded Marinette, Yelling that she was despicable, the words “worse than old Chloe” were bandied about, pushing her towards the railing opposite the door.

Alya was right up front, “What the hell, girl,” she yelled, shoving Marinette back another step. “What the hell is wrong with you? Jealousy and bitchiness is one thing, but threats? Physical violence? There is no way you are the person I thought you were if you stoop to those levels!” She shoved at each punctuation until Marinette was squished between the crowd and the railing. Said railing was really more decorative than protective, only coming a bit past her belly button. Below there was an at least six-meter drop. Marinette looked over her shoulder and shifted her body so that any further shove would turn her rather than send her over. Her knuckles going white as they grasped the railing to keep herself from falling.

“I don’t know why I ever made friends with you!” Alya yelled, smacking Marinette’s cheek hard enough to cause her to turn around. Down below was where Plagg and Adrien had been standing, watching, doing nothing to stop the train wreck occurring above them, Marinette had seen Plagg and looked right at him, comprehension dawning, mouthing his name. Alya then leaned forward, whispering something in Marinette’s ear again, causing Marinette to tear up further and raise her hands from where she had been grasping the railing for support. With that support gone, the shove of the crowd became too much, and she toppled headfirst over the rail.

It was beautifully horrible, like watching a head-on collision in slow motion. Marinette’s hands spread for less than a second, before going in front of her head to protect it. As they impacted the asphalt, a shattering, crunching sound echoed from the suddenly silent courtyard. She then used that impact to roll just enough that she landed away from her spine, hitting her head with significantly less force than her hands sustained. Another fainter crunch was heard as her side hit the pavement. Time regained its hold, her body settled with a groan. Blood flowed from the seamstress’s mangled hands, more trickled from a wound on her head. She was breathing funny, and her arms were at odd angles. She was obviously alive, but equally in pain. Tears were flowing from her eyes as she laid there, Shock stealing all power over vocalization. Her classmates looked over the railing, eyes wide, staring like they hadn’t just almost killed someone. Instead of looking guilty, some had looked pleased, almost smug, others looked to be at least questioning their decisions, but none looked away, gawking like observers at the zoo. Ms. Mendeleiev rushed over, already on the phone with an operator yelling for an ambulance.

Last Plagg had seen of the young Guardian, she was carefully put into the back of the Ambulance. From what Tikki said, recovery would be slow and painful for the poor girl, and that wasn’t even taking into account the emotional pain of those she saw as friends doing the pushing. Plagg really wasn’t surprised that this had caused Invocation 7. He would probably have been throwing nubs well before Tikki had Marinette been his chosen, and honestly, he had been thinking of ways to get his own, pettier, revenge before Tikki had shown up. She may have only been his kitten for a short time, but she was still one of his kittens, and therefore he would protect her, but right now, he had to shield people from his Sugarcube' blind vengeance.

He was at the houseboat, and lucky for him, the lovebirds were having a sleepover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, About that fall scene. I am a college student majoring in Physics, so I took it upon myself to calculate the force that Marinette would be experiencing from that fall, for fun, and for SCIENCE. Yikes, it's a lot. about 3.6 kiloNewtons. For context, the smaller bones of the human body (like the phalanges) take about 111.11 Newtons to break, so those are shattered, and the largest bone, the femur, takes about 4 kiloNewtons to break. By my estimate, her hands would be shattered beyond modern medicine's ability to fully repair since they took the full impact. She would have lost significant fine motor control at the least. Outside of that, she would have dislocated her arms due to the weight of her body only being held by the joints. The roll dispersed the energy of the impact a bit, so that saved her from any serious brain damage or neck snappage, and the rest of the impact caught her ribs, fracturing them. Honestly, it was kind of fun but morbid at the same time. 
> 
> In other news, I agree with the guest commenter that bestowed roasting divinity upon one ladynoir006. From now on the Spitting-Cobra Kwamii of Ridicule who's miraculous is your choice of jewelry (probably a lip piercing or bracelet) shall be called Laady in your honor.
> 
> Otherwise, we have one more Plagg chapter before I go to Tikki and the fun can begin.  
> Trolls, well, you saw what happened to your kind last time you nosed around my writing hole. Approach at your own peril, here there be dargons.


	4. Nothing will be brushed off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagg makes some house calls and the power of THE PACT makes its first real appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this chapter was supposed to be a quick one of Plagg zipping around laying wards. But then Plagg wanted Kagami to be a cat, and Plagg changed his mind about how he was protecting Marinette and this thing ballooned. (It'll make sense when you read). Anyway, no triggers unless you don't like the hospital. 
> 
> Please enjoy.

Plagg floated in the window of the houseboat to find the two teenagers asleep. Good, this would mean that he wouldn’t have to hide while he laid protections over them. These would be the weakest he would lay tonight, more akin to a temporary block than a permanent shield. He didn’t feel the need to provide them prolonged protection from whatever curse Tikki placed; instead, he wanted to filter the effects of said curse. Rather than forcing them to follow the curse’s strictures, they would influence their actions. If Tikki required them to feel something, they would be predisposed to experience those feelings, but they wouldn’t have it forced upon them; if they would have experienced it anyway, it wouldn’t be amplified.

Basically, this ward would eat a chunk of the magic that would try to attach to them and weaken the spell enough that it wouldn’t entirely destroy their lives. Their ignorance may not have been intentionally malicious, but ignorance didn’t wholly save them from punishment. He changed, allowing the power bestowed to him by THE PACT to flow through him, the chain markings flaring a blue light as some of them unwound and floated off, scattering into flakes of seafoam green that sunk into the skin of the cuddling couple. That would last until this invocation of THE PACT was over, and would allow them to take the brunt of it without being fundamentally changed like the rest of the class. Hopefully, this would be an object lesson in observation for them. Plagg moved into the other teenager’s room, looking at Luka. he decided that it was better safe than sorry, putting a ward that would absorb whatever carryover rubbed onto him. He then flew out the window in the direction of the science teacher’s apartment.

Seeing the teacher asleep in her bed, he phased through the window. Hovering in front of the sleeping teacher, Plagg’s markings glowed blue again, disconnecting a longer link of the spectral chain. He infused his green magic into the link, making the chain melt into a glob of seafoam green energy that coated the teacher in a thin film before sinking into her. He put a more complete ward over the teacher, ensuring that the ward would be enough to eat anything that may try to attach to her. It wouldn’t stop an akuma, but anything up to that it would eat and use the magic gained to sustain itself. Nodding after seeing that the ward had settled properly, Plagg flew back out the window.

The next stop was Kagami, who Adrien had decided to use as a Ladybug stand-in rather than attempting maturity and trying to move past his crush. Plagg had thought that Adrien actually liked the girl, but had quickly figured out that really he was stringing her along, with no intention of giving up on Ladybug. At best, she was a distraction for his use as a shield from Lila. Her loyalty didn’t allow her to dump him like the sack of garbage he is. That said, she wasn’t happy that she was forced to put all the effort into their relationship, and it probably wouldn’t last the moment he was forced by Tikki’s magic to spill his harmful secrets. Plus, she was friends with Marinette now. If Plagg had any say in it, he would get his ring on her finger, because, after Adrien “wishy-washy, fairweather friend” Agreste, Kagami’s loyalty and lack of hesitation would be a breath of fresh air for both Plagg and Marinette. A few lessons in being aware of her surroundings, a little more in primary superhero common sense, and she would be perfect.

When he arrived at her house, Kagami was sleeping in a large bed, fencing gear placed cleanly at the foot of her bed, hugging her foil the way one would a teddy bear. Plagg found himself questioning if he should consider this disturbing or cute. With this in mind, Plagg began one of the two _Aegis_ that he would be casting tonight. Unlike the weaker wards he laid earlier that night, an Aegis would stop any malicious magic that attempted to attach to the protected up to and including the powers of other miraculous. The Aegis would inherit his destructive nature and would have similar parasitic properties to the wards, stealing energy from the attack while stopping it. Rather than quietly pulling the chain, he began chanting in primordial. He spoke of the concept of protection’s creation. He implicitly invoked the name of protection’s Kwami, calling for Wayzz’s power to shape THE PACT’s magic. Then he invoked THE PACT itself, pulling the chain into existence, shaping it into a shield shape and allowing his and Wayzz’s power to flow into the cracks, growing the shield and forming it around the sleeping girl. The Aegis was the seafoam green that the others were, combined with specks of the dark purple, almost black of Plagg’s magic and Deep forest green of Wayzz’s magic. The magic flashed a bright black and faded away. Plagg relaxed as he saw the magic take hold. The girl just shifted in her bed, rolling over and snuggling her weapon more. Satisfied that his potential kitten would be safe, Plagg flew towards the Tom & Sabine Patisserie.

No lights were on in the bakery, but that was somewhat to be expected. The Dupain-Cheng s were good parents. It wasn’t their fault that Marinette nor the school told them what was going on until it was too late. From what Plagg had overheard during the bustle to get Marinette to the ambulance, it was again the science teacher who had alerted the pair of bakers to their daughter’s situation. Apparently, Ms. Bustier didn’t think that being taken in an ambulance called for a call to the parents. It made sense now how Lila’s ‘I fell down the stairs’ lie wasn’t immediately blown out the water if a much more significant injury somehow doesn’t warrant a call to the parents. In all likelihood, the two were spending the night in the hospital with their daughter waiting for news.

Brushing aside those thoughts, Plagg began flying in circles around the bakery, his magic fluttering down around the building in interlocking rings until something like a seven-part Venn-diagram was formed with the building in the center, inside all the circles. Once this shape had been created, the burning black and green markings faded until it looked like many continuous scuff marks on the sidewalks around the bakery. This enchantment on the building worked similarly to the Aegis in that it stopped any hostile magic from entering the building. However, it would be weaker, breaking soon after THE PACT’s completion due to the broad area it covered. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold it up longer than that after the extra power THE PACT gave him access to was withdrawn. Still, Tikki was generally better at protection than he was, so he gave it enough juice for her to tinker with it later, maybe allow her to make it draw on some energy source he wasn’t aware of. Nodding at a job well done, he flew in the direction of the closest hospital. If Marinette was anywhere, it would be there.

* * *

And so she was. Like the others Plagg had found that night, she was sleeping, but Tikki was awake ish. She seemed to be meditating on her chosen’s shoulder, her eyes closed, and her spots thrumming, gaining and losing brightness as she breathed in and out. Plagg assumed that she was collecting power for the day ahead. Marinette seemed relatively peaceful, her face missing the creases of agony they had had when last he had seen her. Her arms were held up by two metal structures on either side of her bed. Her hands were heavily bandaged with metal spikes sticking out of it where her joints would be. She had a bandage wrapped around her head, and from what he could see, she was breathing normally again. Plagg sighed, why had it come to this? What had she done to deserve this betrayal? As one of Balance’s custodians, he often wondered why things such as this happened to good people, and usually, it was so amazing things could happen in their future.

But even this seemed too much. Plagg gave one more huff and began pulling on THE PACT’s magic, squeezing out even more than when he had been working on Kagami or the Bakery and began forming it. Rather than just a temporary shield, Plagg was going to balance the scales a bit. He was going to bestow one of the first boons in the last three centuries. The last he had personally granted was on Heracles when he had been put through hell by a Peacock holder named Hera. His story was tragic enough to become a myth. If Plagg had been all there at the time, he probably would have acted like Tikki was now, for all his crazy Heracles was one of his favorites. Alas, Plagg’s miraculous had been damaged at the time, which caused him to have rather sudden mood swings and made him quite apathetic until Tikki had come around and fixed things.

Anyway, Plagg was sick of people that he and Tikki cared about getting harmed, and since he had the power to do something about it, he was going to. He focused on the earrings resting on the bedside table and began an invocation like the Aegis. He started with the story of the beginning, the birth of Tikki, and his subsequent pop into existence as the first atoms were annihilating each other. He curtailed into the genesis of joy, of laughter, of sorrow and pain. All of them were children of the two primordial concepts. These were some who had escaped Atlantian captivity and stayed in the higher planes, only visiting when called upon by their progenitors. He described the first instances of injury and the birth of healing. He spoke of the birth of magic outside their own and the works of foresight and protection. He called upon the concept’s whose virtues he was bestowing and began invoking proper names to receive their assistance in shaping his boon. He was destruction, but from destruction comes rebirth, and it was in this capacity as the one who clears the way for renewal that he began bestowing his boon.

The boon's nature is that each benefit comes in a set of three lines, usually three sets to add more stability to the magic. Otherwise, it would be a pair of effects that would balance each other (an upside and a downside) with one line to create seven total lines. Marinette’s universal scorecard was heavily in her favor, due to selflessly saving Paris at her future’s expense and the pain that had been inflicted upon her despite that. Because of this imbalance, Plagg could stretch it to the limits of the magic being a boon of three cubed lines. That is nine benefits of three lines each. Now it was just a matter of phrasing, as the Balance liked to play Genie if you gave it an inch. Plus, there were the phrasing rules, it had to be a three-line tercet for each benefit to hold, and there were specific phrases and titles to be said before and after to seal it, just like THE PACT’s magic. Honestly, this was why Plagg didn’t usually bother with magic outside of what the miraculous did. It was tedious to remember all of the rules and call upon the correct concepts to aid the areas where he lacked proper focus as a primordial concept. When the children and comrades he had called settled around him in the form of small light motes of various colors, he began, all the while speaking in the primordial tongue:

I, Plagg, he who follows and precedes Tikki, CREATION, do find the Balance lacking, and so bestow a great boon upon she who has been wronged.

I, Plagg, DESTRUCTION, do so bestow this boon upon the HOLDER OF CREATION’S CAGE, the GUARDIAN of us CAPTIVES of the OCEAN-CLEANSED CITY, The RIGHTFUL CHOSEN OF CREATION.

I, DESTRUCTION, bestow this boon and all benevolent wishes, and all glad thoughts to the one MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG, she who shall protect, she who shall create, she who shall last in memory long after her being has left this earth.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS PROGENITOR OF UNDERSTANDING do bestow the gift of FORESIGHT,

That she may see that her path in life be always bright,

That any wrong or problem she sees in the future be set right.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS PROGENITOR OF INJURY, do bestow the gift of PROTECTION,

that her bones never be scarred again by such affliction,

That her body never again knows such destruction.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS PROGENITOR OF CHAOS, do bestow the gift of MAGIC,

that she may bring happiness to those she loves,

and upon those she dislikes destruction most tragic.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS PROGENITOR OF SORROW, do bestow the gifts of LAUGHTER and JOY,

that she may ignore the grasp of SORROW

and her whole life's worth of pleasure enjoy.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS CREATION’S PURSUER, do bestow the gift of INGENUITY,

That her pursuits find freshness and life of their own,

That her works of art and beauty never find ignominy.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS PROGENITOR OF UNDERSTANDING, do bestow the gifts of WISDOM and INTELLECT,

that she be able to find knowledge to collect,

and the experience to know whose views and beliefs to protect.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS PROGENITOR OF REBIRTH, do bestow the gift of STRENGTH,

That this broken body may grow anew,

and that it may strengthen past its previous boundaries at length.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS PROGENITOR OF DEATH, do bestow the gift of LONGEVITY,

That she lives to enjoy these gifts,

and have the chance to see this world’s beauty.

I, DESTRUCTION, AS PROGENITOR OF UNDERSTANDING, do bestow the gift of COMPASSION,

That her already full heart has room for more love,

That her new gifts never rob her of her loving condition.

I, DESTRUCTION, do give these things out of love, desire to protect, and hope for a brighter future.

I, DESTRUCTION, PLAGG, do gift these boons to THE GUARDIAN of us CAPTIVES OF FATE.

I, PLAGG, do bestow these gifts upon MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG, she who shall be protected, she who shall be loved, she who shall remember until she ceases to be on this earth.

MAY SHE BEAR THIS BOON SO LONG AS I AM CHASED BY MY OTHER HALF, SO LONG AS CREATION EXISTS AND DESTRUCTION FOLLOWS, SO LONG AS THE BALANCE ENDURES.

ALIMAON!

As Plagg began speaking, magic chains flew through the air, connecting the motes of light to Plagg first, shifting through him, a rainbow of colors flowing into him and being coated in his almost-purple. With each gift stated, he flashed, and some magic came flowing out of him like ribbons, some wrapping about Marinette's head, some about her torso, others about her feet, and one gently closing around each hand. They fluttered about, like in a heavy wind as raw magic in the air attempted to stop the boon, until the Balance was found with the last gift. As Plagg closed the invocation, recanting his true nature as a pure concept and shifting back to Kwami, the ribbons began connecting their fluttering ends, forming an intricate web, almost like a large lace doily.

With the final word, purely in the primordial tongue, but having a rough English meaning of “for this is to be so,” the ribbons once again flashed, sinking into Marinette’s skin, leaving numerous rainbow swirls on her skin, like oil in a puddle. These marks would only be visible to those magically gifted enough to see such things, but the sight was awe-inspiring for those who could.

Plagg gave a huff, his part was mostly done now. Now he just needed to rest, Plagg had done all he could to proactively protect those who needed to be, and he couldn’t stop Tikki now that they had invoked THE PACT. All he could do was wait, watch the fireworks from a safe distance, and hope that everyone he actually cared about had a better world to live in when it was over. He needed a nap, so he settled gently on The Guardian’s shoulder and drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably going to be some of the only times I directly show magic happening, mainly because I like doing things from a character's narrator's point of view. Additionally, figuring out the spell words for this was hard, (notice only the important ones involved any vocalizations).  
> Quick reference for Beneficial magic:  
> Ward - weak personal protection (anywhere from weakening magic to stopping up to Miraculous abilities) (usually not permanent)  
> Aegis - Strong personal protection (up to and including Miraculous abilities) (permanent depending on who casts it)  
> Enchantment - Aegis but covering an area rather than a person (no current way to make permanent)  
> Boon - Aegis + Additional benefits to be determined in casting (Permanent)  
> * This table is in order of Magic consumption, and only wards can be cast by Kwami without THE PACT or similar power enhancement.
> 
> Also, I figured out a rough release schedule: Tuesday and Thursday hopefully about 10:00 am EST. This will be unless I have a paper or exam that eats my time.


	5. Unless you pay for it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki begins her crusade. Alya's life starts getting weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about Thursday, a project came up. In recompense here is a long chapter.
> 
> TW:  
> \- minor Anxiety Attack

The next morning was a Friday, Tikki woke up early. She saw Plagg nuzzled up to Marinette’s neck while Marinette was snoozing soundly. She smiled. It was nice to see them together and safe. This would make what she had to do easier, She wouldn’t have to worry about Plagg getting caught in anything, and Marinette would be in the hospital for at least the next week and a half so she would definitely be safe. Tikki had been planning her revenge all night while she gathered the power to enact it.

Malicious magic can be split into four varieties, only one of which a Kwami with a miraculous can use without tapping into Something like THE PACT. Jinxes are minor effects that affect the physical world. Pain, clumsiness, illusions, and in the extreme, reality-warping are some of the effects put on by a Jinx. Tikki wasn’t planning on many Jinxes, many were too messy in her opinion, and they tended to run out quickly. Jinxes were the only thing the average Kwami had access to, except for Trixx. The latter's abilities made them well attuned to such magic, allowing them to lay all three primary forms of malicious magic.

The second form such magic can take is the curse. Curses are much like Jinxes, but they affect the target's psychic world: their personality and behaviors. A curse can make their target anxious in certain places or force people to tell the truth. They can even cause one to act in complete antithesis to their nature. Tikki had a few of these in mind, mainly to support the other items that she would be using.

These would be Hexes. Hexes are a niche form of malicious magic which are built upon the target’s past. These were what Tikki would be mainly using on the class. Specifically, she would be using Disposition and Expectation Reciprocity, Enforced Empathy (which is partially a curse, but falls under Hexes), and Karmic Retribution. The first two would force them to experience whatever they had expected of another person. Enforced Empathy was tricky. It would make them feel like another person would in a situation. If that person would be anxious, then the target would feel exceedingly anxious as well. That, combined with expectation reciprocity, would put them exactly in Marinette’s position. Disposition Reciprocity would make them feel incredibly uncomfortable whenever they didn’t act like they expected Marinette to act, to the point that they would find themselves doing so just to get rid of the feeling.

Karmic Retribution would enforce a sort of golden rule, anything they wrought on others they could expect to be wrought on them. If they denigrated, they would be, in turn, harmed; they would be harmed, etcetera. Tikki would be putting a limiter on that one, no reason to stop the fun because they found themselves in the hospital after all, or dead, death would be a mercy. A few of the class had been worse than the others, though, so Tikki had whipped up a few extra surprises for them...

Oh, right, the Fourth type. Well, that was locked behind THE PACT, mainly because of how destructive they could be. They were called a Pox or Plague, depending on who was asked. They’re the negative version of a boon, imposing anything from permanent curses, hexes or jinxes to Cataclysms of epic proportions. The black plague was a pox cast by Plagg on the Huns, The meteors that killed the dinosaurs was a pox cast by Tikki, so was the Tsunamis that wiped out Atlantis. None of the average classmates had warranted a pox, but, well, Tikki was willing to cast a couple this time around. At least three people had _earned_ it.

Tikki smiled and cackled, oh this was going to be _fun_. She flew out the window ready and quite willing to wreak havoc upon some deserving souls.

* * *

Sunlight filtered through Alya’s open bedroom window as she got ready for the day. It had been open when she woke up, but she was sure that she had closed it. She was probably just being paranoid; it's not like a thief sneaked into her house overnight or anything. She found herself thinking about the day before, questioning if she had done the right thing. Alya shook her head; the girl deserved it, she had crossed a line, and anything she got back was karma. If Alya had been in her position, she would have sat and taken her licks. The fact that Marinette denied it just made her more deserving of that punishment. She felt a strange foreboding in the air... whatever. Putting aside her erstwhile friend’s situation, Alya got together her school stuff, ate breakfast, and got to school.

Rather than the usually excited atmosphere the classroom had on a Friday morning, everyone was quite somber. Some seemed nervous like they were waiting for the hammer to drop. Others seemed like they were waiting for trial, stern, backs rigid like they were trying to convince their classmates and themselves that they could handle anything. The only people who weren’t one of these two were Lila and Adrien. Lila seemed to be walking on air. Alya assumed it was because she was free of her bully. On the other hand, Adrien was missing his usual vacant smile and seemed to be annoyed at Something. Alya almost stopped by and asked, but Ms. Bustier had just come in behind her, so she got to her seat next to Nino and got out her tablet to take notes.

The class moved slowly, the odd atmosphere from before getting heavier as time went on until lunch hit. That was when it almost slingshot-ted back, going from somber to the usual Friday excitement. Alya didn’t question it, assuming that the rest of the class had come to the same conclusion that she had that morning. Still, the change was almost whiplash-inducing. As Alya considered this, someone slipped up next to her, “Hey babe,” Nino said, “could you do me a favor tomorrow night?” “What’s up?” Alya asked.

“Could you stream my gig tomorrow? My cousin wants to see it, but he’s out of town for the week.” Nino replied, looking at her pleadingly.  
“I don....” Alya began to decline, but stopped, feeling as though she was going to pass out. It was like all of a sudden, a vice clamped around her lungs, and the world disappeared. Her mind started running on its own accord with, “I can’t say no, Nino will hate me. But I have to write that article for the Ladyblog. But Nino will think I’m a horrible girlfriend if I don’t support him, and then he’ll dump me, and I’ll be alone forever and nobody....”

“Sure, Sure,” Alya replied and immediately felt better. It was like the anxiety that gripped her had never existed. “I can always just rush that article tonight.” she thought, not questioning the strange feeling that gripped her. Around the courtyard and lunchroom, similar events were occurring, Maylene needs help with the tech at her acting gig, and Max agrees to help even though he needs to de-frag Markov’s hard drive, Alix’s dad needs help moving museum exhibits. She asks Kim and Ivan for help, they agree even though Kim has swim practice, and Ivan has band practice. Each of them tries to refuse, and when they do feel crippling anxiety until they agree just to make it stop. Somewhere up above them, a little goddess smiles vindictively. Phase one finished.

* * *

The next odd occurrence happened in class. Lila had been talking about some amazing thing she had done when Alya felt strange, like some non-physical part of her itching. She felt like she NEEDED to fact check, even though this was Lila, and there was no way she was lying. Alya ignored it. Until Lila went on another story and the “itch” got worse, the slight nudging getting more forceful. Alya began writing down the stories, deciding to check them when she had the time, better safe than sorry after all, right? As Lila continued, the “itch” continued getting harder and harder to ignore until Alya finally couldn’t stand it anymore. She pulled out her tablet and began frantically checking what Lila just said. She found nothing, but the “itch” went away somewhat, now just a niggling in the back of her mind, saying, “maybe I should check what I posted.” Now Alya was suspicious. She didn’t know why but for some reason, she couldn’t find anything on Lila. Not to say she was Lying per se, but Something definitely didn’t add up. Alya started wondering what was happening, why was she feeling so weird, was it an Akuma... no, there wasn’t some blinding fashion disaster running around yelling. It was probably just stress, she had only just found out how much of a jerk her best friend was, and she had done some socially reprehensible things in response to that. She was probably just nervous that she would get in trouble for it. It wasn’t like her friend was right or anything. It wasn’t like the way she had been treating her friend was for nothing, right? No, there was no way... well, she’d figure it out. No, stop, she had class. This was not the time for an existential crisis. She lifted her head and focused on literature.

As she was packing for the day, Ms. Bustier flagged her down, “Alya, could you help me please?” Ms. Bustier asked, holding a stack of papers almost a foot tall. “I was going to ask Marinette to help me with this trip paperwork, the class expense reports, and the upcoming class picnic. Since she’s indisposed at the moment, I figure as vice president you can pick up the slack while she’s away.” The teacher said, dropping the stack with a hardy bang onto the desk in front of her. Seeing the girl about to decline, Bustier quickly overrode her, “I’ll need those forms by next Monday. Good luck, I know you can do it! Just pull out your inner Marinette, and you’ll do fine!” The teacher then quickly clicked out of the room, leaving an overwrought Alya in her wake. That night would be spent filling out forms in triplicate and trying and failing to type up an article for the Ladyblog. However, for some reason, Alya found herself trolling through her files any time she tried to say anything she couldn’t remember precisely to find substantiating evidence. This ground her process down to a halt, making her eventually just stop and sleep, deciding to pick it up again tomorrow before she went to stream Nino’s gig.

Nope, that wasn’t happening. Alya’s mom had been called to the hotel to prepare for the morning service, so she had to watch her twin sisters. A full-time job that she couldn’t do any extra work during. She had barely had time to get to Nino’s gig with time to get the stream up and running. And even then, that was a full-time deal, making sure that the stream was going smoothly, the tricaster wasn’t overheating, the computer wasn’t glitching, etcetera. She had barely gotten any time with Nino afterward. He had to get home pretty quickly, and she had a curfew to uphold. So she had gotten a kiss then had to get home, where she collapsed in front of her computer and finally got around to fact-checking all of her Lila articles. Nothing, there was nothing. Everything that she said had no evidence. If this got out, she would be ruined. The Ladyblog was a tabloid in all but name, and she had no clue how she should fix it. In her rush to figure out a quick fix, she forgot all about Marinette or what this revelation meant.

* * *

Tikki smiled as she snuggled into the crook of her chosen’s neck. She thought back to the discussion that had been going on as she flew to the room.

\-- Twenty Minutes Earlier --

Tikki stopped outside the window after a successful first day. It had taken all morning to cast the Hexes on the class, what with the number of hexes cast and people cast on, but she had done it. She would need her rest for tomorrow when she started on the more personalized punishments. She saw Plagg floating in front of Marinette, both awake.

“Hey, Kitten. Could I stay here for a while?” Plagg’s scratchy voice asked, his ordinarily lackadaisical attitude almost hopeful.

“Of course, Plagg, I don’t think I could do anything to stop you. But why?” Marinette had asked, her voice still sounding a bit loopy, but much more lucid than it had before.

“Something is going on right now, Kitten. Something I don’t want to deal with around the kid. A hammer’s falling, and I don’t want to be around when it strikes.” Plagg said.

“I get why you wouldn’t want to be around Adrien right now, Kitty.” Plagg flinched a bit at the nickname, that used to be reserved for Chat, “I wouldn’t want to be around him either. And really, he hasn’t been acting like a hero recently, has he? I don’t know why I was so crazy about him, honestly. I thought he was nice but what I thought was kindness was spinelessness. I thought the fact that he could even be nice to Chloe was terrific, but really he just couldn’t stand up to her.

You know what, no matter what happens, I’m going to get you away from him. If he can’t be a hero in his civilian life, he shouldn’t be one in behind a mask. He could have stopped this from happening, and he didn’t. If I can’t trust him like this, I can’t trust him behind the mask, especially since he’s gotten more aggressive in his pursuits as Chat.”

“I don’t think that you will have to worry about that, Kitten. That hammer I mentioned is probably going to end up with my ring in your hand anyway.” Plagg said, floating down and nuzzling into her shoulder.

“Ok, kitty, If you say so. I would scratch your head, but I’m a little tied up at the moment.” Marinette replied, giving him a small nuzzle back after shifting her head towards her arms in their casts and slings.

“It’s ok, Kitten, you just focus on getting better. Leave the rest to Tikki and me.” Plagg said, starting to nod off.

“mmkay, Night,” Marinette responded, dozing off as well.

\-- Present Moment --

Tomorrow Tikki was resting, letting the hexes she had already laid have time to settle before she moved on to Lila on Monday. For now, she would relax and build up power for the next one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, can we agree that everything that goes wrong in life goes wrong on a Thursday? Cause that's what it seems.
> 
> Anyway, Malicious Magic, as I'm calling it, is the opposite of the Defensive magic that Plagg was using in the last chapter. Rather than a hierarchy like Defensive magic, there are two tiers:  
> 1) Jinx, Curses, Hexes  
> 2) Poxes/Plagues
> 
> The power used is determined by the effects. The more is done, the more magic required. Tier 1 is by how widespread the effects are, obviously, an illusion is going to take less magic than Changing reality. With Curses, the further the behaviors enforced are from the usual personality of the target the more magic it takes. Hexes, the more of the past the magic references, the more magic it takes to lay. 
> 
> Poxes are basically the malicious will of God. It can cover any or all of the tier 1 magic and can go even further.
> 
> Don't know why, but I feel like this chapter is missing something. I'll probably be sprinkling in more of the classmates in later chapters to show how far it's going and to assuage this feeling.


	6. Mark my words, the words/ From a weeping heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LILA. Nuff said.  
> Bring your flashlight though cause it gets **D A R K**.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday Chapter because I had an exam yesterday.
> 
> TW:  
> Allusions to:  
> \- Sexual Assault (light allusion)  
> \- Assault/murder
> 
> IF you want to avoid either of these, skip the paragraphs with Lila getting a headache. Also, they are just sort of fake memories that didn't actually happen to her but are magically reality. Tikki ain't messing around.

Saturday and Sunday had been uneventful. Marinette’s parents had spent Saturday with her to ensure that she was ok and help her settle into the hospital room. They had needed to go back to the bakery for the entirety of Sunday, however, to make sure the temps they hired were ready to take over until Marinette was out of the hospital. The rest of the day for Marinette had been split between sleeping and watching television. Apparently, her parents and the school were keeping her spill silent. Her parents told her they wanted to wait until she was out of the hospital before they made any big deal out of this. That way, she would be available to give her side of the story rather than coming second-hand.

She had told them to contact the people who had commissioned her to let them know that she wouldn’t be able to sew anything they had commissioned for the foreseeable future. Luckily, she had finished the design sketches and the patterns for the pieces. She just hadn’t been able to cut and sew them. Those jobs could be outsourced to others for fabrication, but she wouldn’t be able to take any more commissions for a while. She wouldn’t be able to design for a time either. And just like that, Tikki was livid again, and Marinette was in a funk. It hadn’t hit her until last night, but Marinette had cried herself to sleep when it did. She was still sleeping, and Plagg was curled on her chest like a real cat. Tikki was ready to begin Phase two, Lila’s comeuppance. And since she would make it, so no one ever believed a truth spilling from her lips, she would do this personally.

She found the Italian sleeping in her room. The shades are drawn, causing a stark contrast due to the light shining in from a partially opened door. That wouldn’t do at all, so Tikki flew over and slowly closed the door. The room was now pitch black, with only vague outlines visible. She also took the time to lay a jinx over the space that would sound-proof it while she went to work. She cast an illusion over herself out of hard light, making herself look like an ethereally beautiful woman, skin made of light, Hair of fire, etcetera, etcetera. Honestly, this is why she chose to look like a little bug creature most of the time. Trying to goddess it up was exhaustingly complicated. Although she was rather proud of the fire wings, those were a good look. Anyway, she let the fire which part of her ‘body’ was composed of heat the room. The girl in her bed shifted, eventually waking up due to the high heat of the room and the bright light now shining into her face from the perturbed goddess staring at her arms crossed and fiery wings spread wide.

Eyes wide, Lila quivered, asking, “Who are you? What are you?”

“I am Tikki.” The goddess echoed, “I represent the primordial concept of CREATION. You probably have not heard of me, but you’ve met my champion. I believe you mortals call her ... oh, what was it? ... Oh yes, Ladybug.”

“Why are you here? What did that bug say?” Lila asked, a bit of annoyance coloring her tone.

“Oh, this has nothing to do with my champion. She is fine as far as I know. My Chosen, however, is another matter and the reason I’m here. See, every so often, one of us, well you mortals would call us gods, decide that one of you humans represents our concept more than the rest. We then call that person our Chosen and help them personally in their endeavors. Many become closer than family to us, some to the point we elevate them to a champion or avatar of our concept. They become almost a part of our being since we give them an understanding of our concept exceeding most mortal’s grasp.

As to why I am here, you did something that very few people have ever had the temerity to do. In fact, the last people who did were an old group of mages in Atlantis, just before it sunk. YOU-HURT-SOMEONE-I-CARE-ABOUT!” The goddess’s voice echoing menacingly in the space.

Lila shivered and leaned back, managing a one-word question, “Who?”

“Oh, you’ve radically harmed more than one’s reputation, friendships, mental and physical health recently? I’m so sorry that I wasn’t specific.” Tikki’s voice was colored with heavy sarcasm, “You harmed Marinette. MY-CHOSEN. She is like a child to me, and you decided to torture her. Now, I’m a very tolerant goddess. Had you just messed with her reputation, I would have shrugged and helped her rebuild it better. If it were just friendships, I would have actually thanked you because those friendships were toxic, as your class will learn. If it were mental health, I could have helped her get her own revenge, the same for physical health, to an extent. But you decided to do all of them, you decided to try and fully destroy MY CHOSEN. And for that, you are going to PAY.” As she said this, the fire that made up her wings flew into the air, circling around the terrified Italian and forming into flaming ropes, trussing her up like a rodeo bull.

“Don’t struggle. It may be uncomfortable, but I do believe that burning alive is much more uncomfortable.” Lila was immediately still as a statue, gulping.

“I usually wouldn’t do this in person, you see. It would be dangerous for anyone to know about Marinette’s status. However, due to your punishment's nature, I feel that knowing where it came from would help your attitude. You have built yourself around your lies, and so I will help you. Now your whole being will be your lies.” with that, Tikki began chanting in Primordial, her human form’s onyx eyes glowing hellfire blue as she called on the pact’s magic. She called what Lila assumed were three names, and three wisps popped into existence. One a sickly green mottled with black, grey, and brown. Another was a rainbow of continually changing colors. The last a transparent color, which was only defined by a hazy grey outline. Then the magic seemed to begin in earnest:

“I, Tikki, she who was the birth of all things, declare a universal imbalance calling for a sinner’s regret.

I Tikki, CREATION, she who destroys with birth and births from destruction, do declare one Lila Rossi, blasphemer, deceiver, and sinner.

I CREATION do declare punishment upon this sinner, that its past miss deeds be punished and its future malevolent wishes not come to pass.

I, CREATION, being PRIMOGENITOR of DISEASE, do inflict upon this sinner truth of the BODY,

That its silver tongue cut its body like silver blade,

That its ill words show truthfully.

I, CREATION, being PRIMOGENITOR of REALITY, do inflict upon this sinner truth of EXISTENCE,

That its silver tongue be proven correct as it never intended,

That its ill words show physically in persistence.

I, CREATION, being PRIMOGENITOR of TRUTH, do inflict upon this sinner the inversion of TRUTH,

that any truth passing through its lips do fall upon deaf ears,

That truth is read as lies when passing its mouth.

I, CREATION, do cast this POX upon one Lila Rossi, deceiver, blasphemer, and sinner, for the crime of injury upon MY RIGHTFUL CHOSEN, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, she who shall protect, she who shall create, she who shall last in memory long after her being has left this earth.

I, CREATION, Tikki, do inflict this pox upon she who would see THE GUARDIAN of us CAPTIVES of THE OCEAN-CLEANSED CITY tortured endlessly.

I, Tikki, do CALL THIS POX for the satisfaction of THE PACT, which begun at society’s beginning.

MAY THIS SINNER CARRY ITS POX SO LONG AS I AM CHASED BY MY OTHER HALF, SO LONG AS DESTRUCTION BEARS CREATION AND CREATION BREEDS DESTRUCTION, SO LONG AS THE BALANCE ENDURES.

ALIMAON!

With each line spoken, the fire trussing up Lila sunk further into her skin, not burning her, but branding for all who could see magic the words in their original language upon her skin. And as each phrase ended, the wisp referenced flew into a fire loop, changing it to their color. With the final word, the flames fully sunk into Lila’s skin, making the branding look to a magic user like they were perpetually being created by the fire now living in the burns.

Any magic-user who saw those marks would immediately retreat and retract any aid offered, lest they face the combined wrath of Tikki and Plagg. In fact, they would be repulsed from the inherently disturbing magic now leeching off her, treating her like a leper.

“What did you do to me?” Asked Lila, not feeling all that much different.

“I gave you what you deserve. What that is is up to you to find out. I would be careful what I claimed until then if I were you...” Tikki stated mysteriously, a malicious, shark-like smile defacing her perfect visage. The Goddess’s fiery form fading as that final warning was given. The light from her hard light illusion finally winked out, leaving pitch darkness in its wake.

Now invisible, Tikki lifted the silencing jinx on Lila’s room and followed as Lila went into the apartment’s living room to prepare for the day...

* * *

Lila had no clue what that goddess had done to her. All she knew was that the baker brat apparently had a literal fairy godmother, and apparently, she had decided that Lila had crossed a line. What Lila’s punishment was, she still didn’t have a clue, but it couldn’t be good, especially with how the goddess had appeared before Lila.

She decided that perhaps the goddess was messing with her, attempting to make her mess up. It wasn’t like Lila felt any different after that crazy light show. So she would treat it as business as usual until proven otherwise.

Lila walked into class, seeing the group seem more tired than usual. Probably just Monday slump, one of Lila’s stories would cheer them up. She sidled up to Rose, knowing that she would willingly listen to anything she said.

“So, how was your weekend?” Lila asked, not really caring but wanting to seem genuine.

“Oh, it was great! Julika and I went on a date to this really cute cafe! And I got to talk to Ali yesterday. He was really excited because he’s finally got the funds to build a new children’s hospital!”

“That’s weird because I could swear that I talked to the Prince about building a solar farm yesterday.”

“Lila...” Rose seemed worried about something, “What did the prince say exactly?”

“Well, we talked about the benefits of solar farms, and he asked for my help with building them. Apparently, he was going to fly me down to help him next weekend.” Lila was nervous now; she didn’t expect Rose to question her so thoroughly.

“I’m so sorry Lila, I didn’t know, or I would have said something earlier!” Rose cried, “To think what you must have been through at Prince Nazeem’s hands.”

“Who?” Lila asked, genuinely confused.

“Ali’s brother, He’s like 4 years older, but they look like twins. He was caught in … messy … situations one too many times, so his father, the king, decided to disinherit him in favor of Ali. Nazeem has been trying to defame Ali since. The rumors I’ve heard are that he lures in people trying to help Ali’s causes then does … nasty … things to them. He forces them to stay quiet about them or else so that they hate Ali but can’t say why. All while using Ali’s name. I’m sooo sorry that you had to go through all that!” Rose cried, seemingly genuinely distraught that she didn’t say something sooner.

It was no sooner than Rose finished speaking, Lila got a splitting headache. New memories were forcing themselves into place over the memories of her sitting in her room, eating chips, and watching movies. Memories she definitely didn’t want, featuring her in a room she didn’t remember with a man she didn’t recognize.

Lila felt a bit sick, was this what that Goddess had done, cursed her stories to backfire on her... No, this was just a coincidence. Maybe this was the only thing she had done. There was no way!

“No! Nothing Happened! I haven’t been to Achu in person!” Lila yelped; these sheep wouldn’t call her out on the slip.

“It’s ok, Lila, you don’t need to lie for him; in fact, you don’t need to say anything. I’ll drop the subject. Just know if you need me, I’ll be there for you.” Rose said, smiling almost condescendingly at her. Or at least that’s how Lila took it.

Lila was stunned. She tells a lie, it becomes truth in a way she doesn’t want; she tells the truth no one believes her. Was this what the goddess meant? Was she genuinely Cursed? Only one way to figure out.

“Adrien, could you take notes for me? My arthritis is acting up again.” Lila smarmed, hoping to get herself time to think. Instead, her writing hand was wracked with pain, knots that hadn’t been there before showing on her knuckles. She grasped her own hand and cringed, her eyes tearing up. Adrien glanced at her, seemingly caught up in his thoughts. But when he got a good look at her, he flinched back.

“Lila, I need to focus on this class. I won’t be able to do that if I’m taking notes for two. I’m not doing well in this class, and if father learns of it, I’m out of school. Maybe Max will help you?” Adrien said, slowly inching away from her, trying to seem circumspect about it and failing miserably.

“Ok, sorry for bothering you, Adrien,” Lila said, gritting her teeth due to the pain in her hand. She started up the stairs and tripped a bit on something. She could have sworn that she heard that Goddess’s voice giggling.

“Oh, Lila, is your leg hurting still from your fall?” Maylene asked.

“Oh, yes, It’s getting better, though,” Lila said, and suddenly she felt her leg give under her, pain shooting through her calf. She cried out as she collapsed, grabbing the desk next to her to stop her fall. Kim helped her into his seat next to Max and checked her leg. “That’s at least sprained Lila, you shouldn’t be walking on it. I’m going to go to the nurse and borrow a set of her crutches for you to use, but you should see the doctor soon to make sure it doesn’t get worse.” Before Lila could turn him down, Kim bolted out the door to get those crutches.

“Oh, this isn’t the first time this has happened.” Lila said, trying to cover herself, “It fixed itself last time.” As she said this, she felt an aching pain in her other leg. Later, x-rays would show that a fracture in her leg had healed in the wrong position. The doctor would need to re-break it and put it in a cast to make sure it healed properly.

“I need to shut-up.” Lila thought. “If I’m guessing correctly, I need to stop or else I’ll be permanently injured or worse.”

“Hey Lila,” Nino said, walking into the room, “Did you talk to Steven Baselburg yet?”

“Oh, no, I haven’t had the time. Last I saw him was years ago, so I doubt that he would remember me.” Lila said, remembering that she never said when she met the producer.

“Oh, good. That may be for the best then. What with the news stories and all.” Nino said, seeming a bit disgusted all of a sudden.

Lila didn’t want to know, but she found out with another headache. A memory of a man she vaguely remembered from an IMDB page and gossip programs hitting a woman she didn’t recognize with a rod of some sort, seen through a crack in a door forcing its way into her mid-elementary school years.

Lila actually threw up that time. She was sent home, where she told her mother that she must have eaten some lousy shrimp or something. At which point, Lila actually got food poisoning and was taken to the hospital to get her stomach pumped. While there, the ER doctor took a look at the rest of her and decided she may need an X-Ray for her legs, so ordered one with her mother’s permission.

As she was being wheeled into the X-Ray room, she saw the Goddess again. She was wearing a carmine red sweater and black pleated thigh-length skirt under a pristine white lab coat with short black pumps on her feet. Her godly features were toned down, her hair a bright auburn rather than roaring flame, her eyes a stormy grey rather than pure onyx, her skin unblemished but not shining like it had. She was clearly the goddess, but she appeared as a beautiful woman instead of an ethereal goddess to anyone who hadn’t met her. The goddess smiled at Lila’s mother as she shook her hand. Tikki’s eyes glinted maliciously despite the warmth of her smile as she looked over at Lila.

“Don’t worry, Ambassador Rossi, your daughter, is in good hands. I’m Doctor Tikki Mason. I’m on loan from a sister hospital in America if the name didn’t give it away. I typically specialize in reconstructive surgery, but the X-Ray tech is sick today, so I’m in charge of X-Rays for the day since I had to study them for my specialization. We’ll get your daughter in and out in a jiff, don’t you worry.” Tikki said, her smile almost genuine as she subtly altered the lead shroud that would be put over Lila with her magic. She didn’t want Lila to be connected with her concept at all. One quick zap would solve that, and no one would know the difference until much later.

Tikki took Lila over to the x-ray machine, laying the altered lead shroud over her torso with the weakened portion covering her pelvis. She leaned over Lila, seemingly adjusting the vest, and whispered harshly in her ear, “Sorry. I forgot something this morning,” before standing up and saying in a normal voice, “Don’t worry dear, it won’t hurt a bit and will be over before you know it. It’s just a bit loud, is all. Hold still though. If you move, it’ll mess up the X-rays, and we’ll have to do more.”

Tikki went over to the protected booth with the girl’s mother and took a few shots. She looked at the screen, clicked her tongue, and walked out.

“Sorry, hon, I need to refocus the machine and shift your leg. A few more, and you're half done.” Tikki said in that fake sweet voice, covering the malicious glee she felt in toying with the girl. She leaned over the girl and fiddled with the emitter a bit to fix the contrast. Then she leaned down and gently turned the girl so that her other leg was further from the machine and not covering the first. She walked over to the booth and took a few more shots of the first leg, getting a sharper image this time, tutting as she saw a defined fracture in her tibia. Then she shifted the machine to the other leg and captured the poorly healed fracture in her fibula.

“All done, have a good day, you two,” Tikki said.

“Thank you for your efficiency, Doctor Mason. I hope you have a nice day as well.” Lila's mother replied, turning to get the nurse who had brought them. The nurse came in quickly and began wheeling Lila out, who looked back at the Goddess dressed like a doctor smiling that sharp, shark-like smile after the Ambassador’s back was turned.

“Hope you stay healthy, Ms. Rossi.” Tikki’s said in that saccharine patronizing voice.

As the nurse rounded the corner with her wheelchair, Lila couldn’t help but believe that Tikki’s words were a threat rather than a genuine wish of good health.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I don't like Lila, I don't think anyone likes Lila. So I don't feel super bad about what I have done to Lila in this story. That said, all of the things that occur to this despicable barely-human are tragedies that I wish upon no one in real life. This was mean to be the cathartic punishment of a commonly hated character, not anything else. 
> 
> That disclaimer out of the way, a few language things.  
> Primogenitor is the original ancestor, the starting point. Progenitor is any ancestor other than direct family, that is anyone other than parents or grandparents.  
> The other is that the 'its' in the Pox are on purpose. Part of the casting is seeing the target as unworthy and the stripping of gender/ identity a part of that.


	7. From a weeping heart/ From a shattered soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki sets up some dominos, ready, and waiting for them to be toppled over.

Tikki watched as the girl was wheeled away, questioning if she went overboard. She sighed, pulling her human form’s hair back, attempting to tie it with a hair tie she thoughtlessly produced. No, that girl wouldn’t be a good mother, she couldn’t be, not if she would create the situation that Marinette went through, not if she actively supported it. And definitely not if she was happy that it happened. No, Tikki wouldn’t wish her on any child, especially when the pox could be passed on. Honestly, the only thing she wanted about Lila was that she would step on a Lego brick every night for the rest of her life.

She flinched as she tugged the tie a bit too tight. ‘Stop thinking about this,’ Tikki chastised herself, ‘You need to get out of here and move on to the next one.” Tikki pulled up her mental list of people to punish as she walked out of the Hospital, the lab coat fading away like it never existed. The Bourgeois girl. And her family, since they were why her upward progress was like a stepper machine. Tikki was doing this so the girl could learn about the world rather than coasting through life with daddy’s money, trying to emulate her mother’s toxic habits. Sure, there was a bit of annoyance about Marinette. Still, after miracle queen, the girl had just stayed out of classroom politics and isolated herself, keeping everyone away with an even sharper tongue than usual. Honestly, this was more Tikki annoyed that Marinette’s attempts at helping Chloe be a better person were not only in vain but almost purposefully stymied by the girl’s parents.

Tikki smiled. At least this would be an easier one. The ‘Style Queen’ had a tendency to leave a trail of destruction in her wake. Only her connection to the Mayor and his sketchy business deals kept her from drowning in lawsuits. So Tikki just had to remove that protection, and the Bourgeois family would crumble like a house of cards, shot from the social strata like a flashy duck during hunting season. Heck, Tikki didn’t even technically need magic for this; it would handle itself once she got the ball rolling. Didn’t mean that she wouldn’t cast a few curses to make it stick for the girl.

Tikki headed towards the police station, her outfit shifting to a pair of perfectly tailored black pants, a maroon blouse, and a higher pair of heels. A pair of black-rimmed glasses with a bluing tint appeared on her face and a black blazer formed where the lab coat had been. The grey eyes she had been sporting shifted to a red-brown, and a patent leather briefcase appeared in her hand. She then cast a few spells to change reality around a bit. Now Tikki Mason had taken her delayed flight back to America after the X-Ray tech had come back to work (apparently their allergies had just been acting up, weird that). Terisa Kelly, the forensic accountant, had just gotten to Paris to deliver some papers to the Parisian police to alert them to some discrepancies one of her firm’s teams had found and dug into while auditing the governmental accounts.

As she walked into the building, she felt the eyes of many male officers and a few of the female ones latch onto her. Terisa ignored them. Humans were strange like this; why should she care if they stared at her.

She walked up to the desk officer and asked, “Hello, can I please speak with … Detective Allard about opening an investigation?” Checking her phone as though she were double-checking the name. The desk officer nodded, turned around, and walked away for a second, coming back with a man. This detective was coming on middle-aged, with muddy green eyes and a somewhat tousled mane of salt and pepper hair that hinted at quite a few late nights working stressful cases. He wore a blue button-down with a tie of a lighter shade of blue striped with navy; over that, he wore a stereotypical trench coat along with weather-beaten pair of grey slacks and a set of well-taken-care-of high laced boots. He carried himself with the air of someone who had seen the horrors of life and persevered through them, but something about him reminded Terisa of Trixx for some disconcerting reason.

“Detective Laurent Allard, how may I be of assistance?” The detective asked, holding a hand out to shake.

“Terisa Kelly, Forensic Accountant, currently working with the Ministry of Economics and Finance. Normally, I would be working with an agent within the Ministry, but considering the people involved in this, we wanted to stay a little closer to ground zero. Could we please go somewhere a bit more private so I can hash out the details for you?” Terisa asked, shaking the Detective’s hand with a firm grip. Never let it be said that this goddess let others think her a weakling should it not suit her.

“Of course. Right, this way, Mme. Kelly.” the detective said, gesturing down the hallway he had just come from. Detective Allard led the disguised goddess to an interview room, with a large oak table and a few chairs. They each sat on one side as Terisa laid her briefcase out on the table and opened it.

“My team has been going over the Paris Government’s accounts for the last year, auditing it and logging irregularities.” Terisa began, magicking documents into existence as she pulled them from the case. “In the process of this, we have found a rather rampant degree of corruption in all levels of the justice system, baring the courts. Almost all of the police officers below sergeant and a good number of detectives have been accepting bribes from numerous people, the most grievous coming from one Alex Cacalldi to ignore the many public akumitizations he has caused and the Bourgeois family.” Terisa took a breath, handing over some of the forms to the Detective,

“Honestly, the Mayor seems to be the root of the problem here. He has been throwing money around in all the wrong places. For example, giving nameless grants to his daughter’s school seemingly so that he can hold them over the principle’s head.” A bundle of forms almost thicker than she could grip was produced and dropped on the table with a thud.

“Again, there are the bribes of police officers to break up events he has no legal right to and keep his daughter out of trouble.” Another slightly softer thud, as a smaller bundle was dropped.

“This is not mentioning his wife, who seems to get her kicks out of labor violations, workplace harassment, and verbal abuse of her workers. Honestly, if he didn’t have a team of the skeeziest lawyers and accountants, I’ve had the displeasure of being in the same room as he and his wife would be drowning in lawsuits. Apparently, he has also been using government money to hire, for lack of a better term, goons to strong-arm people into NDAs, those signatures were gained in distress and void said contracts.” A heavy thud as a stack of papers almost too big for the briefcase was dropped on the table.

“We decided to go to the local police because honestly, unless we can connect the Mayor to Hawkmoth, this isn’t a TRACFIN operation, and the Ministry doesn’t have the manpower to tackle this themselves otherwise. Clearly, you have a case, considering my team and I have been collecting this data for the last year. All you need to do is clean house and double-check our work.” The accountant stated, smiling a bit.

“Well, I can honestly say that your team is thorough, Mlle. Kelly, but how do you want us to proceed from here? Who’s clean and won’t try to bury this?” Detective Allard asked, brows furrowed at the mess that had been dropped into his lap.

“Well, we finished the audit last week, hence why I’m sitting in front of you rather than at a desk in England. Luckily, your Chief of Police is clean. He has just been swamped with work from the Mayor to keep him from noticing. I don’t pretend to be a lawyer, but the ones on my team said that since most of this is common fraud, misallocation of funds, and bribery, you should be able to press charges rather quickly. After all, you have all of the evidence right here.” She said, patting one of the piles of paper.

Placing a thin stack of sheets right in front of Laurent, she continued, “Here is a codified list of possible charges by person then severity. You will find that the corruption is mostly centralized in the lower rank and file, rather than the top brass. Some of you detectives may need to do some footwork on a few of the more exotic charges, but you at least have a foothold on all of them here.” She finished, gesturing towards the multiple stacks of forms that littered the table. “Oh, and here is a back-up drive with all of the forms on it just in case.” She said, tossing a flash drive at the detective who caught it quickly.

“Of course. Thank you for this. There is definitely enough to start a case here. Heck, just that last list would probably be enough with a bit of explanation. Either way, I’ll talk to my superiors and get right on this. Do you have a way for us to contact you should we need to discuss anything?” The detective asked, starting to collect the multiple stacks of paper into one pile.

“I’m not going to be reachable personally since I’m taking a long vacation using the overtime from this, but my team can be reached through the Ministry of Economics and Finance. The person to ask for is a man called Oliver Bell. He was the head accountant on the audit. I was just sent since he came down with something before he could bring the files.” Terisa stated as she closed the briefcase, handing the detective a business card with Oliver Bell’s contacts on it.

Laurent led them back through the hallways to the front desk.

“It was nice meeting you, Detective Allard, Happy Hunting.” The accountant stated, shaking his hand while smiling a rather sharklike smile.

“It was my pleasure, Mlle. Kelly. Stay safe on your vacation.” The detective replied, his smile a bit strained. As the woman left the room, he breathed a sigh of relief. Turning to the desk sergeant, he stated,

“That was one of the most terrifyingly efficient women I have ever met.”

* * *

Tikki had slipped into an ally after exiting the police station. She had first shifted reality to have Terisa Kelly on her way to a flight to the Caribbean, then turned back to her little bug goddess form. She flew over to the hotel that the Bougeouis family owned and sat down outside the window to Chloe’s room. She flitted about knowing that school had ended recently, so the girl should be getting home soon. And Bingo, here she was. Tikki made herself invisible and flew through the wall as Chloe slumped on her bed, falling asleep pretty quickly. Tikki then began laying a curse over the girl, sapping away her desire for the limelight and any wish of being the leader. From now on, Chloe would be a worker bee rather than the queen and would be okay with that.

That was all that Tikki did though, she didn’t want to make any changes purely through magic, so she only removed the wish to be on top, rather than forcing the girl to be a nice person. She did, however, set up a little reward system. When she was being good at supporting someone, she would feel more emotionally fulfilled. When Chloe wasn’t, she would feel like something was missing, like she could be doing something and wasn’t. Hopefully, that carrot and stick would help her become a functioning part of society once her parents were knocked down a peg. And in the meantime, it may help her bring back her classmate’s trust if it could be won, that is.

Tikki knew that Pollen liked Chloe and that it had hurt her when Chloe had taken Hawkmoth’s offer of power over her advice. So, this was perhaps Tikki’s way of bringing Chloe around, helping her understand subjugation from a different angle than the one doing it. Tikki didn’t know, but she now had to wait for mortal bureaucracy to grind along and further her plans for this family. It was times like this Tikki questioned why she allowed the concept of Bureaucracy to be created because it really only slowed down progress. Then she remembered what had happened when progress got out of hand and was thankful for her limiter.

Tikki flew back to the Hospital to relax and recuperate for the strain that would be Bustier’s punishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got my computer fixed. [*sad confetti noise*](https://youtu.be/nYwAHURPQ-s) So I was able to pull this and the next chapter off of it so they are ready to be posted. Considering the comments on the last chapter I decided to clarify the character's thought process a little bit, partially as a transitional section and also to show that while Tikki is still majorly pissed off she is still the decently moral bug goddess we know and love, just in an "I know a lot more about the way the universe works so my morality is different" sort of way.
> 
> Bustier is up next...


	8. You'll be haunted/ Maltreated and wounded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bustier meets Tikki, It isn't a happy meeting... for Bustier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few OC kwami in this as well as a gender-neutral character.  
> Additionally, 
> 
> TW:  
> Reference to: Victim Blaming, Gaslighting, emotional abuse/manipulation

Tikki flitted into the Dupain-Cheng Bakery through Marinette’s balcony. She homed in on dress form, phasing through the neck hole to where the miracle box sat inside the form’s middle. Her plan with Bustier required a bit of help from TIME, and to do that, Tikki would need the help of two of her comrades in the box. The other two she would need help from were connected to the African miraculous and, therefore, basically free do whatever they wished. Common courtesy was to tell a kwami tied to an Atlantian Miraculous when you were going to invoke them. Doing so without first at least letting them know was the Kwami equivalent of showing up at someone’s house without notice expecting a favor, impolite, and puts everyone in an awkward mood. A summons could be uncomfortable, especially for Kwami other than Tikki and Plagg. They force Kwami into a shape conducive to the summoner’s needs. Additionally, their miraculous’ form basically welded itself to its Kwami for the summon’s duration.

She flew into the miracle box and tracked down Fluff and Sass. She quickly talked with them and told them what she would be doing. They agreed, disgusted at what their Guardian had experienced due to this woman’s idiocy. They questioned Tikki thoroughly, though. TIME had been/ was/ will be one of the most crotchety of her siblings and therefore wasn’t/ isn’t to be/ shouldn’t be trifled with (and by her deely boppers, is it hard to talk about a being that exists at every given moment simultaneously, omnipresence was annoying like that). They wanted to make sure that this wouldn’t screw up the present. They were the part of TIME both jointly in charge of the present, and therefore they had to make sure that it wouldn’t be taken too far off track. Either way, Tikki had the green light, so she floated off to her victim’s home...

* * *

Caline Bustier considered herself a good teacher, and she was assured by most of her students of such. She believed that it was up to the children to sort out their own problems; she was just there to keep them from going lord of the flies on her watch. She made sure there was a student that would be a symbol of the ‘perfect child’ to hopefully rein in their peers before she had to. Honestly, those were the ones that tended to avoid her afterward, but it was the greater good. In this case, the majority enjoyed their classes with her, so she was doing a good job; the one or two that didn’t were irrelevant sacrifices. Caline had gotten worse about this, though. She began setting aside her work for her examples, her ‘favorite’ students. She started looking to them more and more to stop their peers in her place. She got LAZY. And anyone can tell you that a Lazy teacher is either the best teacher or the worst teacher depending on the answerer’s personality. It was Fate’s decision that Caline had gotten mostly the prior type of student. She had gotten complacent, had allowed something horrible to happen. Her class had actually gone Lord of the Flies on her and pushed her ‘example’ over the edge. Caline immediately went into covering her own ass, hustling her students into the classroom, and beginning to teach. She then began to pretend that this never happened, harshly stopping any talk of it. Making sure her students knew to not talk about it because they could get in a lot of trouble. Oh, she didn’t know the half of it. She had opened a Pandora’s box, and she was just learning about it because of the woman with burning hair and wings floating in the middle of her living room, sparks flicking off of the wings and hair, going out of existence as they touched the floor.

“Caline Mallory Bustier,” Tikki echoed, her face etched out of stone, “I am greatly displeased with you.”

“Who are you? What do you want with me?” The teacher asked, backing towards her kitchen away from this strange woman.

“I am Tikki, otherwise known as CREATION, also EXISTANCE, and well, you wouldn’t understand my true name, Primordial is criminally underused and not really taught nowadays. As to my presence in your,” her face twisted a bit in distaste, “abode, I just told you, I am displeased with your actions, to the point that it warrants my intervention.”

“What did I d-do to warrant your presence?” Bustier asked, sweating from the heat the Goddess in front of her was radiating.

“I find your actions as a mentor distasteful. You allow your pupils too much freedom. You guilt your good students into policing your bad students. You act like bullies are the victims and force victims to ‘be bigger people’ by forcing unearned forgiveness. You claim it is the victim’s fault when they are harmed and bend to bullies' whims. I have seen the pain that you have caused, and it has upset the BALANCE. You have left a swath of ruined students who don’t understand how to act in polite society, be it because they expect things when they shouldn’t or no longer know if they are being selfish or not. Your class is a factory for broken humans, and the worst part is you don’t understand the pain you cause. I am here to balance the scale and give you perspective on how you affect your pupils' lives. I am going to lock you into your victim’s lives jumping from one class to the next, from your first to the present, until you understand their pain. You will never be able to discuss or communicate my presence here, nor will you be able to speak of your punishment. You alone will bear the weight of your actions without any aid, just like how your students couldn’t ask for help, even if it was too late. I hope whatever gods you believe in take pity on you because my kin are all disgusted in you.”

The flames of her wings flew out and ensnared Caline, trussing her up like a Christmas goose. “As I told another recently, don’t struggle. I hear burning alive is quite uncomfortable.” Tikki said with a negligent glance as she began to walk about the apartment, shifting the furniture away from the center of the room to make space for the magic she would be casting.

“First, I’m going to be calling a few niblings of mine. I hope you don’t mind guests.” Tikki remarked.

The Goddess cleared her throat and spoke in a language the teacher couldn’t understand for a bit, talking about her baby sibling’s burst into existence just after Plagg, how the concept of TIME had slipped into existence with their twin SPACE. How they had almost ignored the CREATION and DESTRUCTION, spreading infinitely from one to the other. Tikki then fell into a heavily accented French, mainly so Caline could understand the beings she was dealing with here.

“I, CREATION, call upon Fluff, EVOLUTION. She who commands the near future. She who molds the future from aside Time. Come to my aid.” A blue flash and a bunny creature appeared for a second before a woman with pale, almost blue skin and golden hair appeared to the flaming Goddess’s north. A bright blue pocketwatch seemed welded to her right hand, burning a bright black-grey light, with chains of a similar color wrapping over her body.

“I, CREATION, call upon Sass, INTUITION. He who represents the lessons of the near past, He who grasps the present and bends it to his whims. Come to my aid.” A cyan flash, with a snakelike creature appearing, before a man of seemingly middle-eastern descent with cyan hair appeared to Tikki’s south. Similarly, a bracelet in the form of an ouroboros was welded to his left wrist, the same chains wrapping over his body centering from the bracelet.

“I, CREATION, call upon Slaak, HINDSIGHT. He who remembers all and forgets nothing, He who builds the present upon the past. Come to my aid.” A man with grey hair and pasty pale skin appeared. He was thin and short, like he hadn’t grown since he was a teenager, but with the look of infinite wizened knowledge. He stood to the west of the forming compass rose. In his arms was a stone tablet, burning a dusky brown-green. It seemed less oppressive than the chains on the prior two and radiated its magic in tendrils rather than chains.

“Finally, I, CREATION, call upon Bleet, FORESIGHT. She who reads the threads of Time, and guides the hands of Fate by them; She who frames the future in the present. Come to my aid.” A TALL woman with goldenrod hair and brown, almost black skin flashed in. She seemed distant, almost like she wasn’t present mentally, and her eyes drooped sleepily. She drifted over to the east of the group. Atop her head was a platinum diadem with a set of five chocolate brown gems along its circumference. It radiated the same magic as Slaak’s tablet.

Together, the four that had been summoned stated in primordial, “CREATION, We four aspects of TIME answer your summons. State your need that we may respond.”

Switching back to Primordial, Tikki spoke again. “I call you to aid in this woman’s punishment. She has harmed our Guardian and many others. I wish to commune with TIME that we may force her to feel the pain she has wrought through her own actions.”

“So be it,” remarked Fluff, “the timelines are not greatly endangered by this action,”

“I shall ensure its success,” Sass stated succinctly.

“There is precedent and wisdom in it,” breathed Slaak, “I support it.”

“FATE accepts this event, for I have seen and already agreed,” Bleet sighed.

“Then let us commune.” the four agree, each settling into a meditation pose, their magics snaking out of them and melding in the center just in front of Tikki. Their colors bled out of them into the glob of silvery, grey light, which in turn formed into a mass that constantly shifted between a small, childlike mass to a middle-aged androgynous form, to a wizened hunched old one and back again. This was TIME, the concept from which the four were created.

“You rang, sister.” The form’s voice greeted, sounding simultaneously like a baby’s cry and the dusty tones of an old person.

“Of course TIME, I need your help for some divine retribution, are you interested?” Tikki asked.

“Who was the poor soul who pissed you off EXISTENCE?” TIME asked, their everchanging head tilting a bit. “Last time, linearly, you called for my help was,” they sighed, thinking a bit, “ah, the Atlantians, yes that was quite a bother, what with half of my being trapped in those infernal devices. It was my pleasure to trap them in their drowning city endlessly separated from myself.” they laughed a dusty sort of chuckle.

“Try all of your being at some point; it’s not as fun as it sounds. As for whom, the woman behind me harmed MY CHOSEN and enabled, even supported, my chosen’s continued abuse at the hands of her class. I’ve finally had enough and invoked THE PACT to rectify this imbalance.” Tikki replied, going from sarcastic to enraged as she spoke.

“Oh my, you are serious.” TIME replied, looking behind Tikki, at the woman staring in horrified confusion at their formless mass. Their, well, what could be called eyes faded a bit, going whiter. “Yes, I see now, quite despicable indeed. What do you plan for her?” TIME asked when they came back from viewing the past.

“I want to send her mind and soul into a separate timeline identical to this one where she will hop from one ‘favorite’ student to the next until it has synced with ours, at which point she will be drawn back to her body here, and that past timeline will cease. This timeline should be tweaked so that she is dormant for any positive events in the students’ life and only conscious of the negative. When she merges with her current form, she should be unable to discuss her Time in the other timeline, nor our existence. I will also be removing her from her job. I figure that should be enough for now.”

The Mass shivered, they convulsed, and out of their formless depths came a loud cackle, formed of three different laughs. The first the innocent giggle of a child, the second the high linting of the middle aged, and the third the harsh grating of an old person. It was a strange chorus that was both harmonic and frightening in equal measure to the clueless teacher.

“Oh, sister, you are a joy to work with. In fact, you are almost as fun as LIFE; I see where he gets it from.” TIME remarked, his ‘eyes’ shining like dying stars. “It has been figuratively forever and literally no time at all since I created a temporary timeline. I may just have to sit back and watch it play out. I’ll do it. Anything else you need? A prophesy, a memory out of Time, some advice from another timeline?” TIME asked.

“No, TIME, I have everything else under control. And yes, I know, much to my chagrin. Honestly, I have no clue why everyone thinks DEATH is the cruel one. Poor girl has been protecting people from LIFE’s eternal schemes, ending the suffering LIFE causes, and is still vilified. Either way, you know I don’t like messing with the timelines all that much without your say so. REALITY is usually fine with me messing about with them, but I know how you get when you get unexpected work.” Tikki answered. TIME huffed. Yes, more work was always annoying; it’s why they disliked Fate so much. She was always changing things without alerting the other concepts.

“Shall we begin then, sister?” TIME asked, moving parts of their mass like they were popping their knuckles, stretching out their ‘hands’ towards the Goddess.

“Yes, let’s do this,” Tikki replied, joining hands with the divine being.

Together they began silently channeling their innate abilities. This was not like a pox; this was pure divine power funneling around them in a torrent. The magic swirled like a hellfire blue and silver grey whirlpool, and eventually condensing between them, the silver melding with the blue turning it into metallic cobalt. This mass of cobalt solidified, shaping itself into a burning egg-shaped portal, still swirling, with bits of the magic circling it like the dust about a newborn star. Tikki then released Time’s hands, standing over the now slightly struggling teacher who had been watching this in shocked silence.

“Your ride is here, Madame. Don’t worry, your trip will take no time at all, out here.” And with that, Tikki slipped her hand into Bustier’s chest, swiftly pulling it out and flicking her hand as though getting rid of something disgusting. A pale blue orb flew from her hand and towards the portal, hovering just outside the bubbling mass of cobalt. The small orb shuddered and jittered about the edges like TV static, emblematic of the pain one feels when their soul is ripped from their shell while still conscious. The woman’s body stilled and then faded. It would be in stasis, beside time and not experiencing it, until her soul was shot out of the portal and back into it.

“A few last-minute spells and you are on your way,” Tikki remarked, casting some of the same spells that she did on the classmates. To make sure she played her part in this new timeline. As well as a small curse to force her silence on anything involving Kwamis or magic.

“Bon Voyage, Mme. Bustier, I hope you have a wonderful trip.” Tikki smarmed, flicking her finger and shoving the soul into the portal, towards its punishment.

* * *

Tikki turned to TIME and said, “Thank you for this. Marinette is one of my favorite chosen, and the things that that woman allowed to happen to her were horrible. If you ever need my help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Don’t worry about it Tikki, I may not understand your connection to such ephemeral things, but that just may be my nature. If you care about this girl, then I will help you care for her. I heard from DEATH that Plagg is also quite taken with her, so there has to be something remarkable about her. I’ll keep an eye on her and let you know through one of my four aspects if anything is going wrong. Plus, she has a boon of foresight, so I doubt that I will need to do anything major again. If you need me, I’m available too, and please, do call more often than when you need something. I like talking to my favorite sister.” TIME remarked as their form started melting back into the four beings silently meditating around them.

“Of course, TIME, I’ll try to talk with you again sometime this Terannum. Goodbye.” Tikki remarked as TIME fully separated.

“Was it successful?” Fluff asked, shaking away some fog from the commune.

“Very, thank you all, you can go whenever. I know it must be uncomfortable for you and Sass to be here without a holder.” Tikki remarked, cringing a bit at the thought of harming what amounted to her niece and nephew.

“It’s fine Tikki, we know this was important to you, or else Fluff and I would have refused when you asked. We’re always willing to help so long as you have a good reason for your need.” Sass replied before he and Fluff popped in their respective colors, returning to the miracle box.

“It was good seeing you again Tikki, perhaps you could get your Guardian on the trail of our box? It has been sitting in an antique shop in Nice under heavy concealment for quite a while. It would be nice to have a contractor again after such a long time.” Slaak stated slowly, a small smile coming on his face.

“I’ll try, but it could take a while. Marinette won’t be up to travel for a few months.” Tikki warned, making a mental note to tell Plagg about this when she could.

“What is three months, two weeks, and five and a half days with our life spans?” asked Bleet obliviously, “So long as good occurs without pain in the interim, what is a long wait but a build in anticipation to support the joy of the occurrence?”

“Ever the philosopher Bleet, I’d love to talk with you two more, but I think I need to get going. I have a few more papers to leave on the right desks before I can rest, and you two know better than anyone that my sibling waits for no being.” Tikki remarked, releasing their summons and flying away.

She flew to the office of one of the school board members and passed through the wall. She landed in their safe, where she knew they would find these documents. She found a stack of files for the board to review in their meeting this week and quietly formed a new one. These new documents entailed all of the things Damocles had been doing and including complaints from many of Bustier’s students that they had never had the ability or chance to vocalize. The file was thicker than the other ones, but she put it towards the middle of the stack to make it seem like it had been shoved aside by someone for a later meeting. Finally, she put a slight curse on the file, making it so that the people who read it would be more likely to harshly punish the people it was about.

Bustier was done with Damocles soon to follow. Good Teacher Tikki’s foot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I think we can all agree that Bustier sucks. So I'm not going to talk about that, I'm going to talk about the original characters in this.
> 
> Slaak = Sloth kwami of Hindsight - He and his counterpart, Bleet, are not combat kwamii, they are built for support. Slaak's miraculous gives the ability, Recollection, allows an immature holder to view the past focused on only important events up to five days back based on a single question. For example, if they were trying to solve a murder, they could view the events related to the murder, for example, an event that lead to it, the victim's movements leading to the occurrence, even the aftermath. However, it will never directly answer the question or inquiry. His "weapon" and miraculous is a stone tablet upon which rest five runes: these are the timeout indicators. when not transformed his tablet takes the form of a bracelet with the tablet as a major charm. 
> 
> Bleet = Giraffe kwami of Foresight - Her ability, Prognostication, allows the immature holder to see five prospective futures up to five hours in the future. a mature holder can see any number of prospective futures but are still locked into the five hours back. Her 'weapon' is a staff, and her miraculous is a diadem.
> 
> TIME: is a genderneutral concept who split themself into four separate Kwami out of boredom, they are the younger sibling of Tikki and Plagg, and therefore not beholden to their concept to the degree other concepts/kwami are.
> 
> DEATH: is a sweetheart, honestly. She enjoys gardening and spends most of her time thwarting LIFE's evil schemes. The whole 'grim reaper' thing came from when she was summoned while clearing space for a new garden plot on a cold day. She is still broken up by that, worried that she scared the poor man a bit too much. She takes after Tikki in temperament but Plagg in ability. (Plagg and Tikki dote on her when able).
> 
> LIFE: is a Little Shit. He spends most of his time concocting plans with FATE to prank/make miserable the people experiencing his concept. No one knows what he has against beings experiencing his concept, but Tikki finds herself chastizing him much too often for her liking. He may have taken after her in ability and intelligence, but he took after Plagg in sense of humor and use of intelligence.
> 
> Tikki's other concept, EXISTANCE has to do with the fact that creation is the act of bringing something into existence.


	9. Until your life/ Turns out to be miserable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being a goddess doesn't preclude unforeseen consequences, and having the favor of a goddess doesn't preclude encroaching self-doubt.

Marinette snuggled into the thin covers of the hospital bed with Plagg. The little cat god seemed reluctant to leave her side, even to visit his family in the miracle box. The most he spent was an hour when Tikki had shown up from one of her many mysterious excursions. Marinette had asked Tikki about them after a particularly mind-numbing stint during her absence. Tikki had been uncharacteristically evasive, saying some ‘Godly Issues’ had come up that she had to attend to. Marinette really found that fishy but knew that Tikki would fill her in when it was important for her to know the details. Marinette trusted Tikki; Tikki was her constant confidante, she gave good advice, and it was clear that Marinette’s condition greatly affected the little Goddess. Perhaps she just wanted time to come to terms with it in her own way. Marinette would give her time. The secrecy rankles, but Marinette didn’t want to push. She didn’t want to prove herself unworthy of one of the only people who she could still call friends. 

“I can hear you thinking too hard kitten, I think I see smoke too,” She heard Plagg’s rusty voice state. 

“Just wondering what’s up with Tikki. She’s been spending a lot of time away from here. I guess I just worry about what she’s thinking, how I can’t really help right now if an Akuma attacks. Just how useless I am right now…” Marinette trailed off, a bit of moisture accumulating in the corner of her eye. 

“You can’t put your worth in your usefulness to others, kitten. You’ll just get burnt out and unhappy for your troubles.” Plagg stated, floating in front of the young guardian. 

“But if I can’t help people, why would anyone want me around them?” Marinette asked, genuinely confused by Plagg’s statement. 

“Geez, your teacher really messed you up kid. Do you really think Jagged calls you his niece because you tailor his clothes? Or that Kagami is friends with you because your friendship is ‘useful’? Heck, do you think I would be saying this stuff if the only reason I hung around you was that you were useful to me? The world isn’t that mercenary kid, and that’s the physical embodiment of destruction telling you that. We spend time with you and call you our friend because you’re a good person. You’re kind, resourceful, talented, compassionate, and a whole mess of other positive descriptors. And if you tell Tikki I said that, I’ll deny it.” Plagg said 

“But what about my classmates? Why did they all call themselves my friends?” Marinette asked, looking a bit less downtrodden after Plagg’s first speech. 

“What about them? If someone’s worth being around, they’ll notice all those great traits and not ask for more. Anyone who sees what a wonderful person you already are and forces more out of you isn’t worth the effort of befriending. They’re there for the stuff you’ll give them, not the person that’s giving, and they’ll split the moment someone shinier appears in their view. Just because your way of showing you care is acts of service doesn’t mean that you have to tie your being to that service's quality. Nor does it mean that you should only be in a friendship because that person likes your gifts or the things you do for them. That is a recipe for a toxic friendship. Your usefulness doesn’t define you; your character does.” Plagg finished, snuggling back up to Marinette. 

“Thanks, Plagg. You seem to know what I need to hear… I guess I still worry, though. I don’t want to be left behind just because I can’t help right now.” Marinette stated, still a bit rundown. 

“Don’t worry about that kid. Tikki thinks the world of you! She wouldn’t have gotten as angry as she did at your classmates and teachers if she was going to leave you behind. Just worry about getting better. Tikki and I have a few things we can do if Hawkbutt decides he wants to prey on people while you’re out of commission.” Plagg replied, trying to calm the girl. 

“Really? I don’t think I’ve seen Tikki angry about anything in the time I’ve known her. And about those other things, are you sure Plagg, is it safe?” Marinette asked, 

“In reverse order, Yep, don’t worry. It’s safe. You don’t have to worry about anything. We’ve got it covered until you can take back the reins. And Yeah, she was spitting nails during your first night here. I don’t think I’ve seen her this angry since Atlantis... And that was a huge mess. You mean a lot to her kid, heck you mean a lot to me; you’re as much Tikki and My child by this point as Death and Life.” Plagg soothed, continuing to nuzzle up to the Guardian. Seeing that she was still a bit shaken, he decided to give her some information that may help prove how important she was to him and the rest of the Kwami. 

“I don’t think that Fu really explained magic to you, did he?” Marinette shook her head, “Well, MAGIC, the being, cares a lot about names; in fact, she is very specific about them. Other than starting as your birth name, your Magic name only changes in two ways. If you decide that your birthname no longer represents you and change it, so long as that change reaches down to your soul, that will change your Magic name. So if, for example, you were doing some metaphorical soul searching and figured you were more of a Maria or a Martin than a Marinette and felt deeply that that name represented you more than the one your parents gave you, MAGIC would only recognize an effect that invoked that new name and would retroactively change older effects to connect to your new name. 

Otherwise, the only other way your Magic name can change is something called an epithet. An epithet is a phrase appended to your Magic name, representing either a major aspect of your being or a major accomplishment. Primordial Beings like Tikki and I have hundreds of epithets but only use the ones that are connected to the Magic we are using. Humans are typically lucky to achieve one or two in their lifetimes, usually connected to their goal in life or whatever concept they have most attuned to. You have six already, although three are lesser ones that Tikki and I have given you that only apply to our magic concerning you. Those aren't really important right now. 

The important ones always connected to your Magic name are HOLDER OF CREATION’S CAGE, GUARDIAN of the CAPTIVES of the OCEAN-CLEANSED CITY, and RIGHTFUL CHOSEN OF CREATION. For using Tikki’s miraculous in the pursuit of good, you gained the first one. Holding the sort of power that we Kwami of the Atlantean Miraculous possess and not being corrupted is enough to usually hold an epithet for it, although later using the power selfishly or acting against another holding such an epithet will remove the betrayer’s and add a more negative one, usually Betrayer of whatever the betrayed’s major concept was. 

The next is one you gained by becoming the rightful Guardian of the Atlantean Miracle Box. Fu never gained that epithet, only being called Warden of Ocean-Cleansed Miracles, because he mostly kept us locked in the box, like the warden of a prison. By allowing us out and getting to know us, your epithet changed to one that represented your actual status. You don’t keep us locked up. You got to know us like an actual Protector, a Guardian. We were subordinate to Fu because he oversaw our box; we listen to you because you listen to us and respect us as sentient beings rather than talking power sources for the jewels we are stuck to. 

The last one is due to your relationship with Tikki. You are her CHOSEN, that means different things to different kwami. To Tikki and I, our CHOSEN are our children as much as many of the CONCEPTS we have created. To others, a CHOSEN is a partner to aid their work and share eternity with, for example, DEATH is somewhat infamous amongst our family because she has only one CHOSEN and that CHOSEN somehow gained a CONCEPT herself, PEACE. To others still, a CHOSEN is a friend to spend time with until their end. Back to the topic at hand, you have bonded enough with Tikki that she has decided that you are one of the humans most connected to her concept. And because of that, she and I are willing to give you an understanding of Creation and perhaps her other Concepts that other humans would never be able to grasp even with our aid. The RIGHTFUL part comes from the fact that you have bonded with me, her partner, and dichotomous CONCEPT. I also care about you, and you will probably gain an understanding of my concept. Due to that, you are even more deserving of your position as her CHOSEN, which is why you gained the RIGHTFUL prefix to that epithet. 

So, as you can see, Tikki, the rest of the Kwami, and I aren't going anywhere. You’ll be dealing with us for a long time if you’ll have us. And don’t worry about these. MAGIC wouldn’t have given them to you if you didn’t earn them; they’re part of your name because they represent your character better than anything else. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an epithet is worth a thousand adjectives.” Plagg finished, seeing that Marinette had relaxed quite a bit. She seemed relieved that they wouldn’t be leaving her as her classmates had. 

“Thanks, Plagg. It’s nice to learn more about myself, and that was probably the best way you could have told me about those. Can you tell me more about Magic? It seems like it would be a useful thing to learn about while I’m stuck in bed.” Marinette asked, determined to learn as much as she could while she had nothing but free time. 

“Sure Kitten, how about I tell you about the different types of magic?” Plagg asked, happy that the girl had gotten out of her funk. 

“Sounds great Plagg, just go slowly so that I have time to memorize this since I can’t take notes,” Marinette replied. 

With that, Plagg started discussing the different aspects of Beneficial and Malicious Magic, Marinette listening intently from her bed as he flitted about, asking questions whenever she could. 

* * *

Meanwhile, Tikki was listening in on a school board meeting, laughing her little head off. The school board was not happy. The chairman, a squat man with a piebald haircut, was cherry red, many of the other members shared his coloration, but a few were chalk white at the implications some of the documents had. Not only had one of their principals shown blatant favoritism to seemingly well-connected students, but he also took bribes. Seemingly not satisfied with those bribes, he had misappropriated school board funds meant to increase security on his campus and had pooled that with the bribes to create some odd ‘owl-cave’ without their allowance or knowledge on school grounds. Even worse than that, he had protected a horrible, borderline abusive teacher to keep them off of his own trail. Now that teacher was AWOL, many of the people who had bribed him were going to ground, and both the police and Ministry of Economics were breathing down their necks to explain how this had happened under their watch. Tikki had found the board’s response hilarious; not only were they ready to crucify Damocles (and his name was quickly turning into a curse word amongst them), but they were ready to burn Bustier the moment she appeared in their sightline. As far as the board was concerned, things couldn’t get any worse. That is until the butterflies appeared. They were blue this time, probably a new power of the Butterfly, because they were much smaller than usual. They each outflew Tikki’s invisible attempts to catch them and sunk into each of the board’s pens, the largest sinking into the chairman’s gavel. As the board members all agreed to Hawkmoth’s control, their gloopy cocoons slunk along the floor and melded together. 

The large blob then turned into a large hulking dark purple form in a magenta judge’s robe, holding a gavel the size of a battleaxe. Its head looked to be wooden with a big powdery wig, dark holes for eyes, and no mouth or nose. Overall, it was an oddly terrifying figure compared to the usual clown suits of hawkmoth’s pawns. Tikki cursed in her mind as the currently unnamed Akuma, smashed its way outside the meeting hall. She quickly started bending her form. It turned to a woman, about eight years Marinette’s senior. She kept the ever-present Auburn hair of her other human forms and kept her bluebell eyes, and had many freckles dotting all over her. A flowing red chiton with white spots faded into existence on her body, and around her waist, a red meteor hammer appeared. The spherical red surfaces of its heads were covered with wicked black spikes, and the cord connecting the two was made of the same material as Marinette’s yo-yo string. On her feet, gladiator type sandals showed up. Tikki was dressed and ready for battle. “Last time I looked like this, I was fighting with Hipolita near Cumae. That was fun.” Tikki remarked, “What was it those soldiers screamed as they fled ... Cruenta Hera? Yes, I might as well own it. It works, I guess. Not one of my prouder epithets, but apropos.” She pushed herself out the newly created window in the direction of the Akuma. 

She found said Akuma using what she mentally labeled its ‘gavelaxe’ to smash buildings. “We are the Executors; We will find the ones who destroyed the peace and force them to endure their punishment! Come out, and perhaps we will be lenient on you!” 

“Yeah, that’s not happening big guy. Perhaps just give up, and you'll avoid a lot of pain,” Cruenta stated, wrapping the cord of her hammer around one arm as she swung the other end in a tight circle. 

“You seem to have the Ladybug Miraculous if the color scheme means anything. Give it to us and avoid your punishment!” The large being cried with a purple hawkmoth mask on its face, bringing the gavelaxe up to smash the woman standing against them. 

She released the head she had been swinging towards the Akuma; it hit the shoulder of the Akuma’s weapon and swung around it. After she braced the cord to stop any further flight, it circled the shaft once more and smashed into the Akuma’s face, sending it towards the building. The head unwound from the handle as the Akuma flew, smacking it again as the cord released the handle and effectively clotheslined the Akuma to the ground. 

She then twirled the cord a bit to drop a loop around the Akuma’s feet as she brought down the other hammerhead on the crown of its head. She spun again and knocked it once more on the side of the head, again looping the cord around the Akuma’s feet. She then brought back the head to her side, retracting the head by looping the excess cord around her arm, swinging the head in tight circles again to get ready for another attack. 

“Are you sure you wish to continue; I am not Ladybug. I am, in fact, the one who has been teaching Ladybug, so I warn you, if you continue, I will stop holding back. I have been known by many names, but on most fields of battle, I was known as some form of Cruenta Hera. If you are intelligent enough to understand Latin, you will know what that means.” Cruenta stated as she got into a stance for another attack should the Akuma not accept her offer. 

“Accept PUNISHMENT!” The Executors roared, getting to ‘their’ feet and swinging ‘their’ gavelaxe again. This thing didn’t seem to be all that intelligent, more like a puppet for Hawkmoth. 

Cruenta sighed, pulling sideways on the loop of cord around the Akuma’s feet. This tripped the hulk as it attempted to crush her, toppling it sideways with its feet tangled. A few motions with her arm and the beast was trussed up nice and tight with one side of the infinite cord. 

“Honestly, this is boring. Of course, Hawkmoth would create his most idiotic and straightforward Akuma the one time that I get the chance to come out and play. Oh well, might as well finish this.” Cruenta pouted, swinging the other head of the meteor hammer around, crushing the haft of the gavelaxe, and releasing a small swarm of the blue Akumas. She then began swinging the two heads of the hammer, creating a red dome out of the motion blur of the heads catching the Akuma swarm. Eventually, all of them were caught and purified as she released them. She then clearly stated, “REJUVENATION,” as she flung one of the meteor hammer’s heads into the sky. It peeled open like a flower as it released a large mass of glowing ladybugs. They flitted around, cleaning up the mess the Akuma had created, moving everyone back to where they were before the attack. 

The woman sighed, looking around and seeing that the news cars were rushing towards her position, she quickly flung out one end of her weapon, latching to a gargoyle and flying away, leaving behind a note with the following. 

“To whom it may concern, 

I am not a replacement for Ladybug. I am merely standing in while she gets over an illness that has left her bedridden for a time. She will get better and take back her place, protecting this city from Hawkmoth’s Akumas, of that have no doubt. Please note that I will not stop to talk with the media, nor will I permit slander by said media of my pupil, Ladybug, or myself for actions taken in desperate times due to unforeseen circumstances. Be aware that this is a special circumstance only allowed by a very specific set of occurrences and that once Ladybug is back, it is doubtful that you will ever see me again. 

Hopefully, you will never have to see me again, 

~ Cruenta Hera, Original Wielder of the Ladybug’s Power 

Tikki changed back to her usual form and flew back to the meeting room. There she saw that the ladybugs had deposited the now much more calm board members back in the fixed room. She had gotten there just in time to hear them agree to fire without benefits and blacklist both Damocles and Bustier, as well as sue Damocles for fraud, the sum of the money he stole, and the amount needed to clean up his ‘owl cave.’ They also agreed that once Bustier was found, they would ask the school’s graduate to see if any of them would like to sue for emotional damages or had any other problems that could have been similarly covered up by the Damocles administration. They had a sneaking suspicion that what had happened to Mlle. Dupain Cheng wasn’t the only incident that could have been kept from them, and this was the perfect chance to remedy that. They still had no clue what the parents would say when the Dupain Chengs decided to air their grievances, seeing as they had only agreed to silence until their daughter was well enough to tell it first-hand. 

Only time would tell whether the school would survive this firestorm, and TIME is infamous for their silence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was the Damocles Chapter; not much to say about him because I don't really think he is an important character in his own right. He's a tool that the other characters (usually Chloe and Lila) use to attack other people. Also showing how Tikki and Plagg would deal with an Akuma while Marinette is out of commission. Generally, before more modern times, Kwami would be like a spirit guide/companion who could give their holder a boost, so Tikki was kind of like Hypolita's right-hand woman and shieldmaiden when Hypolita was her holder and generally fought alongside her unless Hypolita was up against a really tough opponent. She, being a literal goddess, was ruthlessly efficient on the battlefield (as you can see in the chapter), hence her moniker, which translates from Latin to "The Blood-Red/Bloody Lady" (generally hera/herae means the lady of the house or a lady in relation to her servants although google translate dislikes translating it as such). 
> 
> RL talk though: I have finals this and next week so I doubt I'll get out another chapter for a few weeks.


	10. I seek revenge, nothing more/ I seek revenge, nothing less.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently skinning a cat is a common godly family reunion activity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm Back! Christmas and Finals somehow led to a bout of writer's block, then it took me a while to work up the required gall in my spleen to vent at Adrien. 
> 
> Anyway, for TWs:
> 
> Victim Blaming  
> Allusion/Implication of HYPOTHETICAL Sexual Assault  
> Minor gore (regarding the aforementioned finger)

Adrien was not having a good day. No, it wasn’t just today; it had been his whole week—a full week of annoyance, confusion, and worry. First, there was the whole ordeal with Marinette, which he honestly didn’t know what to think about. On the one hand, she was his friend, so he was obligated to be worried and upset about it. On the other, and in his opinion, more salient hand, she had brought it upon herself. If she had just stayed non-confrontational, stayed the class’s everyday Ladybug instead of running off half-cocked at Lila (who was obviously just telling meaningless lies for attention), this wouldn’t have happened. But he had been willing to forgive that aspect of her, he had tried to right the issue by guilting Lila after the whole expulsion incident, and she had practically thrown that in his face by apparently continuing to exacerbate the issue. He supposed he had already mentally washed his hands of the matter by the time she had gone over that rail. If she wanted to continually poke a bull, he wasn’t going to continue to picador it in her stead once she was gored by it.

At least with his ‘relationship’ with Kagami, he didn’t need to worry about Lila attaching to him like a limpet all the time. Still, even that was getting more strained as it became ever more evident that she couldn’t fill the void Ladybug’s stubborn ignorance kept tearing further open. 

Then Plagg had gone missing, with not even a note, just vanishing, leaving Adrien without any way to help in the event of an Akuma. That had been more annoying than anything. The little jerk tries his hardest to eat Adrien out of house and home and doesn’t have the decency to stick around to give Adrien his powers.

There was also his classmate’s behavior; it had gotten weirder as the week had gone on. It had started simply enough with them just being a bit more helpful to each other, helping with a show here, carrying boxes there, but as time went on, they had begun having trouble doing what THEY wanted to do between helping everyone else with their things. His whole class was now in a constant state of relying on and stressing over each other’s commitments. They had reached a point where they were each nervous to ask for favors lest everyone secretly hate them for ruining a previous engagement. The only reason Adrien didn’t suspect an Akuma was the lack of a brightly dressed monster hopping around the city.

Well, that and the Akuma that had appeared earlier that day. Which brought him to the last thing that was ruining his mood … Cruenta Hera, The Bloody Lady. Not only had Ladybug up and vanished, apparently, but she had also been getting training from a previous holder of the Miraculous. Adrien didn’t like this lady, she was good at the job, but she wasn’t his lady. She was getting in the way of him, finally making his lady see that they were meant to be with each other. Didn’t he deserve her affection for all the help he was giving her? Didn’t his constant attention mean he was owed love in return! They were meant to be soulmates; at least that was what Fu had implied, two halves of a whole can only be a few things! Honestly, there wasn’t much more that could go wrong this week!

As he thought that, a speck flitted across the corner of his view. He turned to see a Kwami floating in front of his desk chair. Except it wasn’t the black and green one he was expecting. No, this one was red, spots on her head glowing white, and she had a scowl on her face that seemed to be judging him lacking in any redeeming qualities. The Kwami, Tikki if he had to guess, continued judging him for quite a while, silently floating, keeping him trapped in her gaze before suddenly there was a flash. Where the small, bug-like goddess floated was a woman sitting on a throne that seemed to have been forged from the sun. The woman herself was godlike in her visual intensity. Her hair was like fire, and wings seemingly made of the same sprouted from her back, but he knew this was that Kwami still as on her face was the same judging look he had been captured in for the past ten minutes. She pointed, and as he blinked, an uncomfortable-looking metal chair existed where it hadn’t a moment before.

“Adrien Agreste, Captor of Destruction, Betrayer of Creation, Sit. I have much to say and do to you this night...” The goddess stated coolly... So, Adrien sat; who was he to argue when he clearly didn’t have the upper hand. Her wings flew out in a burst of flame and bound him to the chair, their heat seemingly begging him to try and escape so they could enact their original purpose.

“You know... You were a mistake.” Tikki stated, almost offhandedly, staring out of his bay windows searchingly. Adrien opened his mouth to reply, but Tikki cut him off, “Humanity, you were a mistake... In fact, if [the name never came to Adrien’s ears, like the fabric of reality was straining to not allow the word’s existence], sorry, Plagg, had had it his way, you would be a nonexistent mistake. But for some Balance forsaken reason, I disagreed, I don’t know why, but I thought there may be something to humans... And for the most part, I was proven correct. You all have been quite cute little monkeys to watch and play with. There have only been a handful of times I have been embarrassed by my decision to protect you, creatures... There were the dinosaurs, although that was their own fault, Atlantis when we were trapped in these Balance forsaken jewels bound to follow the whims of whatever simian held them, those strange Hun fellows, and Joan, of course. However, that was minor; COMPARED TO THIS TIME, THIS PAST THURSDAY was one of those times... AND-YOU-HELPED-CAUSE-IT.” The last statement echoed as if reality itself were shaking its open hands, threatening to throttle him, to make his existence as intolerable as possible, the words knifelike in the way they hit his eardrums.

“Through YOUR inaction, you allowed my CHOSEN, a girl who means more to me than you could fathom, to be harmed, PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, AND EMOTIONALLY, with wounds which will be both painful and time-consuming to heal. I debated heavily just throwing you to my son’s friend, (Reality shrieked as though skewered on a burning pike of acid, rather than allowing the name to vibrate the air). I have caused the death of civilizations for less than this, so that would have been a mercy. However, I decided that because you have a higher responsibility as a Miraculous holder, I didn’t want to let you off that easily. Plagg and I have settled on a compromise that I agreed with; however, it requires that we alter the Miraculous you currently wear, something that the two of us can only do when acting in concert with our full power. Although funnily enough, he reworked that compromise recently, he was quite put out with my CHOSEN’s condition; I’m surprised with some of the things he now agrees with doing to you...” Tikki continued, monologuing rather than discussing anything with Adrien, although he didn’t really have anything to say, the name she had given having stopped any comments dead in their tracks.

“As you can tell, that initial compromise was Plagg using up the last of any goodwill he had for you, so don’t expect him to put up with your temper tantrums any longer. He has been a good sport for the last year or so, but he was already on his last nerve before you pulled this stunt. So, don’t expect him to be saving you from your deserved punishment... It won’t end well for you. In fact, I suggest once he shows up, you stay as silent as possible, lest he allow me to add further terms to our agreement... You have been warned...” Tikki stated, reclining back in her throne a bit while waving her hand to make his furniture move away sorcerer’s apprentice-style.

Tikki stood and grasped the open air. A piece of chalk in color Adrien didn’t recognize existed in her grasp now as she walked gracefully to the center of his room. From her vantage point, she scanned the room for a second before tossing the octerine stick into the air and making the chalk draw a shape on the bare wooden floorboards by itself. The figure looked like a Venn-diagram; however, the circles were created with sequences of characters that he didn’t recognize. In the middle of the diagram, she inscribed another three inter-woven circles of a different language that looked like the Ancient Greek letters that Adrien worked with in Physics class. Tikki stood back a bit and looked at her work before waving her hand once more and making the chalk draw two final shapes, both hexagons in the first language in each of the outer spheres of the Venn-diagram. She then nodded and waved her hand, causing the octerine chalk to burst into flames brighter than a welding torch before it completely disappeared.

As this was happening, Plagg flew through the window, an annoyed look on his face morphing into one of surprise at Tikki’s form before he too shifted to a human-esque form. He stood about a head taller than Tikki did, with chocolaty skin and blazing green Thallium Pyres where his eyes would be. But the real features that drew Adrien’s eye were his hair and wings. Unlike the burning fires of Tikki, they were voids, completely nonexistent, like someone had taken scissors to reality itself. The only thing that denoted their ‘existence’ was a slight purple distortion where their edges met with the air around them. “Sorry I’m late, Sugar Cube. I had to wait for her to fall asleep, I ended up giving her a run-down on some of the more obscure Jinxes to try and get her to go down faster. You really need to talk to her after we’re done here, Bug, she’s started to notice your absence, and she isn’t taking it well at all. I think she feels it’s her fault you aren't spending time with her while she tries to heal. I would hope you would tell her that isn’t true through your actions.” Plagg stated, brushing his hand into his hair and somehow pulling it out of the void unscathed. “She’s like PEACE before we accepted her into the family officially. She’s questioning whether our every action is proof that we don’t want her around anymore. It’s really heartbreaking dealing with her like this, even if she’s better after our talk today.”

“I will, Plagg. After all, after this, it’s just a waiting game to make sure the punishments hold; I should be able to explain everything to her tomorrow. But right now, we need to stay in the present. You know that we will have to go all the way for this right, not just our minor aspects. To alter those _Atlantean Pricks’ work,_ we’ll have to go to our full selves. It’ll take the last of the Pact’s power for this invocation, yours and mine both...” Tikki said, looking Plagg in the eyes.

“I know, Tikki, it was kind of obvious when you said my _NAME_ earlier, rather than my current one. And it’s not like I’ll have to stay with him while we wait until the Pact has fully run its course, empowered or not, we are free of our captor’s control. I’ll stay with you and your chosen until it has run its course, and hopefully, by that time, Goldilocks over there won’t have a way to wear my ring anymore.” Plagg stated, before bending over and whispering, “We just have to make sure to make the tightening activation on both thoughts and actions; I want the ring away from him as fast as possible.”

“That was the plan, Plagg. Now let's do this...” Tikki said, floating Adrien, Chair, and all over to sit in the middle of the interwoven circles. The chair wavering a bit, turning into a short column of the chalk she used earlier, carved with similar rings of symbols to the circles it now sat in. Plagg stepped into the south-western hexagon while she took the north-eastern. They each then began speaking in Primordial, their forms shifting like a heat haze as the hexagons around them flared up, and they said in almost unison:

“I, Tikki/Plagg, do renounce the captivity foisted upon me, I do renounce those who would bond me to my lesser aspect, I would return to the beginning when I was myself.

I, CREATION/DESTRUCTION, do abandon the lesser of my aspects; I do abandon that which is the creation of my true being, I would return to the beginning where I was rather than I create.

I, _EXISTENCE/ABSENCE, do accept my whole self, that I am my being rather than my creation, that I am now as I was at the beginning of things.”_

The two beings on either side of the figure no longer looked human. _EXISTENCE_ was an octerine blur, shifting and quivering between the shape of each object and being simultaneously. In contrast, _ABSENCE_ had become what his hair and wings used to be, forming the same shape as _EXISTENCE_ but the absence of it, just a blank non-black-white-or-colored hole where it may have been. The two beings then began to speak in Atlantean Greek, making the inscriptions around Adrien glow white, saying:

“Captor’s bonds, we arrogate your hold on our powers,

Chains of Destruction, we commandeer your powers that we may punish your bearer’s wrongdoings.

This eve we dominate your powers, for we now exist outside the bounds of your links.

Let all in The Ocean Cleansed City WEEP as the cage they forged turns on its guard,

As prisoner becomes judicator.”

The ring around Adrien’s finger began glowing a sickly black color mixed with a blazing red. It grew hot on its holders' hand, searing his flesh as it attempted to resist the two-fold attack from the primordial concepts. This only redoubled the Concepts’ assault as they finally began the invocations to lay one of the worst poxes to ever be cast.

_EXISTENCE_ began, invoking her son’s name and those of his friends, calling for him and his friends that they may see their new victim in all his squalid glory. The part of her Adrien assumed was a mouth smirked as a chorus of flashes appeared in her side of the diagram. LIFE, SUFFERING, BEAUTY, FATE, and ILLNESS all stood in their preferred forms. They prowled along the edge of the diagram to get at the person who had displeased the Protogenitor. She smirked as FATE seemed to begin unknitting a square of her blanket, as BEAUTY sniffed at the creature that had somehow gained a trace of her as she whispered to the crooked visage of ILLNESS about fixing that mistake. But the-every-formed CONCEPT grinned even more malevolently as Adrien shrunk away from her side. For he saw that LIFE noticed all that his group of friends was scheming and purely smiled, smiled as SUFFERING seemed to strain at the boundary separating them from the boy. As FATE, and ILLNESS, and BEAUTY, schemed to ruin him, LIFE, in all his black-haired, green-eyed, Adonis-like glory, just watched and continued cruelly smiling for why would LIFE care about anyone so long as they are within his power.

On the other hand, _ABSENCE_ called his daughter, her lone partner, and his nibling, CHAOS, and his/her/their daughters. The air imploded in darkness as a woman with auburn hair, dressed in a slightly dirt-stained dark grey sundress covered by a dark robe, appeared, carrying with her a basket of yellow carnations, withered roses, aloe, and begonias. Next to and behind her, a slightly shorter blond woman in a similarly stained white and gold gown similar black cloak followed, hugging a massive scythe tightly to herself. Both their faces were set as though cut from granite. A bone-chilling feeling of disappointment wafted from them both as their hellfire blue, and crystal green eyes glared into his soul. Their gaze made Adrien feel as though decades of his female relatives were looking upon him and shaking their heads in that same disappointment.

Reality fuzzed static like an old television set as more beings appeared, CHAOS appeared in all his questionable glory, parts of her swapping as their whims caught him. Rainbow-Haired and festooned LUCK followed swiftly behind them, dragging with her a very stressed-out woman whose nose was stuck in a large Grimoire constantly editing lines in it. MAGIC was rather annoyed to meet this jerk at all, especially with all the work she had to do to fix his mistakes. Bringing up the rear was one final woman, impish in appearance, with a shark-like smile promising pain to all those who looked upon her. STRIFE looked over at her sibling, SUFFERING, and smirked, almost but not really feeling sorry for the poor sod that would be getting both of their attentions.

The air had grown thick with the presence of all these beings, almost soupy as tendrils of different colored magic flicked and slapped at the twinkling barriers that kept them from their prey. The tendrils shifted to chains as they continued to forge themselves on the walls, sounds of clinking silently growing louder in the Blond’s ears. Adrien was as silent as a mouse, his eyes twitching between _EXISTANCE AND ABSENCE’S_ sides as though trying to figure out an escape, but then the runes of the diagram blared blinding acetylene white as the group of beings spoke out, Magic taking the lead, reading from her book:

“ADRIEN AGRESTE, CAPTOR of DESTRUCTION, BETRAYER of CREATION, HERETIC to HIGHER CONCEPTS INNUMERABLE, WE of the collected COURTS of CONSTRUCTION and DESTRUCTION do stand in judgment over your wrongdoings.

YOU, CAPTOR, have abused your status as miraculous HOLDER, disrespecting the advice of your Captive despite the wisdom of it,

YOU, BETRAYER, have failed to protect your peers, and those below you, especially those you promised protection,

YOU, HERETIC, have failed to maintain balance as your station demands, endangering the universe in your ignorance,

Of these crimes, you have been charged and already found guilty,

AS SUCH...”

LIFE and the two cloaked women stepped forward and stated,

“I, LIFE, do _gift_ you the punishment of a long life; may you live in interesting times.”

“I, DEATH, do revoke your place in the NEXT, may you wander eternally questioning your misdeeds...”

“and I, PEACE, do shun you, may you never know me again...”

LIFE just continued smiling,

DEATH glared, her teeth showing as though she wished she could reap him on the spot,

PEACE, though, held DEATH’S scythe even tighter to herself and turned away, ignoring the thing that was no longer ever to be her problem again now chained in the three’s magic,

The three aspects who had spoken stepped back as more stepped forward,

“I, FATE, do revoke your place in the weave, know you will never amount to anything no matter your ability,”

“I, BEAUTY, do withdraw my gifts to you, know that I regret giving them at all.”

“and I, ILLNESS, do promise to visit you often, know that you will see me again and despair.”

Again, the three stepped back as their magic further bound the boy, tightening into his skin and searing his flesh,

“I, STRIFE, do gift you the punishment of disbelief, no matter how you ask, no matter how dire, no one shall aid you, may you continue in your wretchedness.”

“I, LUCK, do also shun you, that no grey situation turn white for you, may you fear unpredictability.”

“and I, SUFFERING, do latch doggedly to your neck, that should you continue your misdeeds, I might revisit you, may you never know rest.”

The two siblings snickered with each other as they stepped back. LUCK just sniffed and turned, shunning him much like PEACE had.

Finally, _EXISTENCE, ABSENCE,_ and CHAOS stepped forward,

“I, _EXISTENCE_ , REPRESENTING THE BETRAYED do curse the EXISTENCE of your LUST, that should you feel it again, you may feel your ring tighten, never abating until it no longer has a place to rest. May it remind you of your place.”

“I, CHAOS, REPRESENTING THE BALANCE, do promise you unrest, that your life and mind may never be anything but ME.”

“AND I, _ABSENCE_ , YOUR CAPTIVE’s COMPLETE SELF, do curse you with the ABSENCE of HARMFUL SECRETS, know that you may never again hide that which harms others, no matter the detriment to you.”

After the last three concepts to speak gave their punishments, the whole host began speaking in discordant concert:

“WE THE COURTS OF CONSTRUCTION AND DESTRUCTION have cast our JUDGEMENT,

WE SOUGHT BALANCE, KNOW it has been REACHED,

WE SOUGHT JUSTICE, KNOW it has been ACHIEVED,

WE SOUGHT VENGENCE, KNOW it is NEVERENDING,

MAY YOU SUFFER THESE PUNISHMENTS UNTIL YOUR LAST THOUGHT, UNTIL YOUR BONES ARE BUT DUST ON THE WIND, UNTIL THE CYCLE OF EXISTENCE AND ABSENCE CEASES,

ALIMAON!”

As they finished their chant, the circle flared around him, the chains of their magic sunk into him, giving him brands much more numerous than Lila’s all over his body, still only visible to those who had touched magic. Each of them their originator’s color. His face immediately broke out in acne, and as he bent over in some form of pain, his back seeming to gain a hunch. He seemed to get paler as he hacked a few times. As the magic finished the block on which Adrien sat disintegrated, he grunted once and passed out, leaving his body to bonelessly flop onto the ground in a dead faint as all evidence of the spell blew away in an unseen wind.

The gathered concepts stood for a second, eyeing the crumpled mass on the floor in the middle of them. Then they each stepped to one side and began conversing with each other. CHAOS left rather quickly, saying that she-he had a butterfly to create over in Prague, something about wanting to verify if a saying was true or not. SUFFERING and STRIFE had not stepped away like the rest, and both bent over Adrien, poking him with the same morbid curiosity that a child might a dead animal in the play yard with a stick. LIFE stood watching and making idle conversation next to ILLNESS and BEAUTY. He intermediately stared [read glared jealously] at DEATH as she held PEACE to her side while talking animatedly with _EXISTENCE_ and _ABSENCE_. (PEACE’S existence as DEATH’s CHOSEN [again, read girlfriend, they’re taking it REALLY slow] was a hotly debated topic between the siblings. Apparently, PEACE’s trials and infirmity as a human had been something of a much deadlier version of Pigtail pulling.) MAGIC and FATE were huddled together, MAGIC holding her grimoire for FATE to see something while pointing to a row in the square of knitting that FATE had undone to reknit Adrien’s part in it.

They mingled an hour or so longer before they each slowly peeled away. SUFFERING and STRIFE were the first to leave, citing a rather large war going on in Africa that they were needed for. LIFE and ILLNESS followed closely after because of some business that they needed to talk about, LIFE giving a catlike smile towards DEATH as he said that they had a rather large plan in the works for the next couple of years. DEATH hadn’t noticed as she had been talking with Tikki (now back in her goddess form after the PACT’s magic finally ran out) about some of Tikki’s adventures after the last time DEATH had seen her. PEACE, however, had glared at him as he popped out in a burst of light and had shifted closer to DEATH as though trying to comfort herself that it was nothing. MAGIC and FATE had gotten into an argument over whatever they had been discussing, and each stormed off to disappear into different corners of the room. Eventually, BEAUTY had wandered off, saying something about a fashion show going on elsewhere that she was needed for. Finally, DEATH and PEACE were called away by some poor important sod’s death, but not before DEATH had hugged her parents good-bye with a promise to visit them soon and left her basket on Adrien’s desk. She gave him a final glare before storming away, being sure to walk right over him as she vanished. PEACE followed not far behind her, accidentally stomping on his nose as she went.

Plagg and Tikki gave the erstwhile Black Cat a glance before they turned towards the window and flew away in their smaller forms.

* * *

It would be the next morning when Adrien woke up to Nathalie’s shrieking. She would later, after calming down, ask him what had happened to his body (apparently, she could see the chain brands pulsing malevolently on his skin), how his nose had been broken, and how he had ended up sleeping on the floor. He had tried to answer that he had let down a person with very important friends, but his mouth seemed to work independently before he could. It spilled what had happened in class and how he had played a part in it. He disclosed that he had known about Lila and not warned his father about her ways and how he thought that she could be the downfall of his father’s company should the media catch wind of some of her claims.

Nathalie seemed to pale, typing into her tablet and finding the articles on the Ladyblog claiming the girl to be Gabriel’s new Muse, of her claims of being his favorite model. Many of them struck Nathalie in a way that made her inexplicably queasy. It was days like this that she wished she hadn’t picked up the Peacock miraculous as she could feel the corrupted emotion that led to those articles. She had felt the mingled stench of lust with pride as that girl had ‘snuck’ on Gabriel’s allowance into Adrien’s room, and she wondered if maybe, just maybe, what she and her employer were doing was wrong. If perhaps what they really should be doing rather than trying to heal Gabriel’s already dead wife was caring for the child that she had left behind, who was obviously not as well-adjusted as he appeared. After all, that ring of his seemed awfully tight, and neither had noticed. His finger must have grown substantially as the ring on it appeared to be making a very clear indent in his flesh already. The boy also seemed much more unstable recently, she had heard him talking to himself in his room last night, and this morning he had seemingly gone into a trance before enraging himself and storming from the room. Clearly, public school was not helping him. Perhaps it was time to homeschool again if this was what children his age brought out of him.

* * *

Adrien himself was enraged. How dare they? What right did they have to do this after all he had done for this city. HE was the one who saved Ladybug when she messed up. HE was the one who got frequently demeaned, called the sidekick. What was wrong with wanting a reward for that?

His ring shrunk a bit for the fourth time that morning.

And there was that weird drowning feeling again; what was wrong with wanting his feelings reciprocated? Why couldn’t he show his Lady that he deserved her love, that she already loved him and was ignorant of it!

The ring tightened a lot more, cutting off his finger’s circulation a bit and barely breaking the skin.

Oh, they would see! He would show Plagg and that red Parasite, just wait, when he got his powers back, He would show them why he deserved his place, why he was the one that Paris couldn’t be without! He would show them that he deserved everything that he wanted because he had done everything right, right?

It tightened more as his mind wandered a bit towards Ladybug, in a ... not clean way.

How was it his fault that he couldn’t get past the fact that his partner was a hot girl in a skin-tight bodysuit? She was lucky that he was so chivalrous; heck, she was basically asking him to hold her down and claim her, the fact that he merely repeatedly propositioned her was downright saintly of him. Maybe she would stop complaining if he actuall...

And with that thankfully incomplete thought, the ring immediately shrunk all the way, crushing the finger’s bone until the ring was a sphere of silvery-purple metal. To add insult to injury, the ring burst into blue-purple flames, cauterizing the stump, making re-attachment impossible before it simply ceased to be there, having returned its guardian. Adrien’s frothing screams of injustice and pain drew his bodyguard’s attention, who burst into the room and carried him to the car to get him to the hospital. It would be a few days before Adrien was again fully cognizant of his actions, cuffed to a bed in the mental ward for his own safety. Having concluded that he had done this to himself, the doctors would later recommend that he be medicated, especially after Adrien started saying that he had been Chat Noir. His later screaming for ‘his lady’ to free him and raving rants that he didn’t deserve this treatment after all that he had done for Paris had made things sure in their minds, Adrien Agreste was a very ill child...

Further away, just outside the Hospital, a blue-haired girl with heavily bandaged hands was wheeled outside. She had a tiny invisible cat on one shoulder, a small hidden red bug on the other, and a reddish-purple ring in her pocket, waiting for a more worthy owner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only expect about two more chapters max for this. One for a revisit of the fallout, and maybe an epilogue about where Marinette is at the end of this.


End file.
